Editing Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

{{Short description|Art museum in Manhattan, New York}}
{{redirect|The Guggenheim|other Guggenheim Museums|List of Guggenheim Museums}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox museum
| name                    = Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
| logo                    = Guggenheim Museum Logo.svg
| logo_upright            = 1.25
| logo_alt                =
| logo_caption            =
| image                   = NYC - Guggenheim Museum.jpg
| image_upright           = 1.25
| caption                 = View from [[Fifth Avenue]]
| map_type                =
| map_caption             =
| coordinates             = {{Coord|40|46|59|N|73|57|32|W|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| mapframe-zoom           = 12
| established             = 1939
| dissolved               =
| location                = 1071 Fifth Avenue at [[89th Street (Manhattan)|89th Street]]<br>[[Manhattan]], New York City
| type                    = Art museum
| visitors                = 861,000 (2023)<ref name=artnews2023/>
| director                = Mariët Westermann
| publictransit           = '''[[New York City Subway|Subway]]:''' {{NYCS trains|Lexington|time=bullets}} at [[86th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)|86th Street]]<br />'''[[New York City Bus|Bus]]:''' {{NYC bus link|M1|M2|M3|M4|M86 SBS}}
| website                 = {{Official URL}}
| embedded                = {{Infobox historic site
| embed                   = yes
| built                   = 1956{{ndash}}1959
| architect               = [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]
| architecture            = Modern
| designation1            = WHS
| designation1_partof     = [[The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright]]
| designation1_date       = [[List of World Heritage Sites by year of inscription#2019 (43rd session)|2019]] <small>(43rd [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small>
| designation1_criteria   = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii)}}(ii)
| designation1_number     = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1496 1496-008]
| designation1_free1name  = Region
| designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in North America|North America]]
| designation2            = NRHP
| designation2_date       = {{Start date|2005|5|19}}<ref name=nris/>
| designation2_number     = [https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/05000443 05000443]<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
| designation3            = NHL
| designation3_date       = {{Start date|2008|10|6}}<ref name=NHL/>
| designation4            = NYSRHP
| designation4_date       = {{Start date|2005|3|25}}<ref name="Cultural Resource Information System">{{cite web |title=Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) |publisher=[[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]] |date=November 7, 2014 |url=https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ |access-date=July 20, 2023}}</ref>
| designation4_number     = 06101.008546<ref name="Cultural Resource Information System"/>
| designation5            = New York City
| designation5_date       = {{Start date|1990|8|14}}<ref name=NYCL>{{cite web |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1774.pdf |title=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |date=August 14, 1990 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |access-date=June 18, 2019}}</ref><ref name=NYCL2>{{cite web |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1775.pdf |title=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Interior |date=August 14, 1990 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |access-date=June 18, 2019}}</ref>
| designation5_number     = [http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1774.pdf 1774 (exterior)], [http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1775.pdf 1775 (interior)]
}}
}}

The '''Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum''', often referred to as '''The Guggenheim''', is an art museum at 1071 [[Fifth Avenue]] between 88th and [[89th Street (Manhattan)|89th]] Streets on the [[Upper East Side]] of [[Manhattan]] in New York City. It hosts a permanent collection of [[Impressionist]], [[Post-Impressionist]], early [[Modern art|Modern]] and [[contemporary art]] and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. It was established by the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation]] in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, under the guidance of its first director, [[Hilla von Rebay]]. The museum adopted its current name in 1952, three years after the death of its founder [[Solomon R. Guggenheim]]. It continues to be operated and owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

The museum's building, a landmark work of 20th-century architecture designed by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], drew controversy for the unusual shape of its display spaces and took 15 years to design and build; it was completed in 1959. It consists of a six-story, bowl-shaped main gallery to the south, a four-story "monitor" to the north, and a ten-story annex to the northeast. A six-story helical ramp extends along the main gallery's perimeter, under a central ceiling skylight. The Thannhauser Collection is housed within the top three stories of the monitor, and there are additional galleries in the annex and a learning center in the basement. The museum building's design was controversial when it was completed but was widely praised afterward. The building underwent extensive renovations from 1990 to 1992, when the annex was built, and it was renovated again from 2005 to 2008.

The museum's collection has grown over the decades and is founded upon several important private collections, including those of Guggenheim, [[Karl Nierendorf]], [[Katherine Sophie Dreier]], [[Justin Thannhauser]], Rebay, [[Giuseppe Panza]], [[Robert Mapplethorpe]] and the Bohen Foundation. The collection, which includes around 8,000 works {{as of|2022|lc=y}}, is shared with sister museums in [[Guggenheim Museum Bilbao|Bilbao]] and [[Peggy Guggenheim Collection|Venice]]. In 2023, nearly 861,000 people visited the museum.<ref name=artnews2023>{{cite web |last=Angeleti |first=Gabriella |title=US museums blame falling visitor numbers for staff redundancies |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events |date=March 26, 2024 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/26/us-museums-blame-falling-visitor-numbers-for-staff-redundancies |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Early years and Hilla Rebay ===
[[Solomon R. Guggenheim]], a member of a wealthy mining family, began collecting works of the [[old masters]] in the 1890s.<ref name=artdaily/> In 1926, he met artist [[Hilla von Rebay]],<ref name=artdaily>[http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=31711&int_modo=2 "Exhibition of Works Reflecting the Evolution of the Guggenheim's Collection Opens in Bilbao"], artdaily.org, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2012.</ref><ref name=Stern808>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=808}}</ref> who introduced him to European [[avant-garde]] art, in particular abstract art that she felt had a spiritual and utopian aspect ([[non-objective art]]).<ref name=artdaily /> Guggenheim completely changed his collecting strategy, turning to the work of [[Wassily Kandinsky]], among others. He began to display his collection to the public at his apartment in the [[Plaza Hotel]] in New York City.<ref name=artdaily /><ref name=past>[http://pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org/hilla_rebay/biographies_2.html "Biography: Solomon R. Guggenheim"], Art of Tomorrow: Hilla Rebay and Solomon R. Guggenheim, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2012.</ref><ref name=Loebl283>{{harvnb|Loebl|2002|p=283|ps=.}}</ref> Guggenheim and Rebay initially considered building a museum at [[Rockefeller Center]] in [[Manhattan]].<ref name=Stern808/> As the collection grew, Guggenheim established the [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation]], in 1937, to foster the appreciation of [[modern art]].<ref name=Stern808/><ref name=past /><ref name=Krens8>{{harvnb|Krens|1993|p=8|ps=.}}</ref>

[[File:Albert Gleizes, 1915, Composition pour Jazz, oil on cardboard, 73 x 73 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.jpg|thumb|left|225px|[[Albert Gleizes]], 1915, ''[[Composition for "Jazz"]]'', oil on cardboard, 73 × 73&nbsp;cm]]
The foundation's first venue, the '''Museum of Non-Objective Painting''', opened in 1939, under Rebay's direction, at 24 East 54th Street in midtown Manhattan.<ref name=Stern808/><ref name=Krens8/>{{sfn|Vail|2009|pp=25, 36}} Under her guidance, Guggenheim sought to include in the collection the most important examples of non-objective art by early modernists.<ref name=artdaily /><ref name=past /><ref name=Calnek>Calnek, Anthony, et al. ''The Guggenheim Collection'', pp. 39–40, New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2006</ref> He wanted to display the collection at the [[1939 New York World's Fair]] in [[Queens]], but Rebay advocated for a more permanent location in Manhattan.<ref name=Stern808/> By the early 1940s, the foundation had accumulated such a large collection of avant-garde paintings that the need for a permanent museum was apparent,<ref name=Gughistory>{{Cite web |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/history |title=Guggenheim Foundation History |date=February 29, 2016 |website=Guggenheim |access-date=October 21, 2019}}</ref> and Rebay wanted to establish it before Guggenheim died.<ref name=Stern808/>

==== Design process ====
In 1943, Rebay and Guggenheim wrote a letter to [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] asking him to design a structure to house and display the collection.<ref name=Pfeiffer5>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=5}}</ref>{{sfn|Vail|2009|p=333}} Rebay thought the 76-year-old Wright was dead, but Guggenheim's wife Irene Rothschild Guggenheim knew better and suggested that Rebay contact him.<ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|pp=808–809}}</ref> Wright accepted the opportunity to experiment with his "organic" style in an urban setting, saying that he had never seen a museum that was "properly designed".<ref name=NYCLint7>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> He was hired to design the building in June 1943.<ref name=Pfeiffer5/><ref name=Stern807>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=807}}</ref><ref name=Stern809>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=809}}</ref> He was to receive a 10 percent [[Commission (remuneration)|commission]] on the project, which was expected to cost at least $1 million.<ref name=Stern809/> It took him 15 years, more than 700 sketches and six sets of working drawings to create and complete the museum, after a series of difficulties and delays;<ref>{{cite web |title=Guggenheim Architecture |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/history/architecture |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501233616/http://www.guggenheim.org/history/architecture |archive-date=May 1, 2016 |access-date=August 13, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|pp=807–808}}</ref> the cost eventually doubled from the initial estimate.<ref name=nytCost>{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1952 |title=Art Museum Plan 5th Ave. Filed; Cylindrical Building Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to Cost $2,000,000 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/04/archives/art-museum-plan-5th-ave-filed-cylindrical-building-designed-by.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Rebay envisioned a space that would facilitate a new way of seeing modern art. She wrote Wright that "each of these great masterpieces should be organized into space, and only you ... would test the possibilities to do so. ... I want a temple of spirit, a monument!"<ref>''The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of the Modern Museum'', pp. 217–18, New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2009</ref>{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=299}} Critic [[Paul Goldberger]] later wrote that Wright's modernist building was a catalyst for change, making it "socially and culturally acceptable for an architect to design a highly expressive, intensely personal museum. In this sense almost every museum of our time is a child of the Guggenheim."<ref>{{cite web |title=55 Years Ago Tuesday: Guggenheim Museum Officially Opens |website=CBS News |date=October 22, 2014 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/55-years-ago-tuesday-guggenheim-museum-officially-opens/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> The Guggenheim is the only museum Wright designed; its urban location required him to design it in a vertical rather than horizontal form, far different from his earlier, rural works.<ref name=Storrer401/> Since he was not licensed as an architect in New York, he relied on Arthur Cort Holden, of the architectural firm Holden, McLaughlin & Associates, to deal with New York City's [[New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings|Board of Standards and Appeals]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dal Co |first=Francesco |title=The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright's Iconoclastic Masterpiece |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0300226058 |location=New Haven |pages=58 |oclc=969981835}}</ref>

[[File:Double spiral and helicoidal flight staircase at the entrance to the Vatican Museums designed by Giuseppe Momo 1932..jpg|thumb|[[Bramante Staircase|Staircase]] at the [[Vatican Museums]] designed by [[Giuseppe Momo]] in 1932]]
From 1943 to early 1944, Wright produced four differing designs. One had a hexagonal shape and level floors for the galleries, though all the others had circular schemes and used a ramp continuing around the building.<ref name=McCarter310>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=310|ps=.}}</ref><ref name=Hitchcock1981>{{cite book |last1=Hitchcock |first1=Henry-Russell |title=Arquitectura de los siglos XIX y XX |date=1981 |publisher=Ediciones Cátedra |location=Madrid |isbn=9788437624464 |page=477 |edition=6th}}</ref>{{Efn|Wright had experimented with a ramp design as early as 1924, when he had drawn plans for a visitor center at [[Sugarloaf Mountain (Maryland)|Sugarloaf Mountain]] in Maryland, which was never built.<ref name=Pfeiffer6/> He later used the ramp design at the [[V. C. Morris Gift Shop]] in San Francisco, completed in 1948, and at the [[David and Gladys Wright House]] in Arizona, which he completed for his son in 1952.<ref name=Hitchcock1981/>}} In his notes, he indicated that he wanted a "well proportioned floor space from bottom to top—a wheel chair going around and up and down".<ref name=NYCLint7/><ref name=Stern809/><ref name=Pfeiffer6>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=6}}</ref> His original concept was called an inverted "[[ziggurat]]", because it resembled the steep steps on the ziggurats built in ancient [[Mesopotamia]].<ref name=NYCLint7 /><ref name=Storrer401/> Several architecture professors have speculated that the helical ramp and glass dome of [[Giuseppe Momo]]'s [[Bramante Staircase#The modern staircase|1932 staircase]] at the [[Vatican Museums]] was an inspiration for Wright's ramp and atrium.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tanzj |first1=Daniela |last2=Bentivegna |first2=Andrea |date=July 23, 2015 |title=The Vatican Museums and the Guggenheim: Two Ingenious Spirals of Art |url=http://www.lavocedinewyork.com/en/2015/07/23/the-vatican-museums-and-the-guggenheim-two-ingenious-spirals-of-art |journal=La Voce di New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hersey |first1=George L. |title=High Renaissance art in St. Peter's and the Vatican: an interpretative guide |date=1993 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226327822 |location=Chicago |page=[https://archive.org/details/highrenaissancea0000hers/page/128 128]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mindel |first1=Lee F. |date=February 28, 2013 |title=Compares the Oculi at the Vatican and the Guggenheim Museum |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/lee-mindel-vatican-guggenheim-museum-frank-lloyd-wright |journal=Architectural Digest}}</ref>

==== Site selection and announcement of plans ====
Wright expected that the museum would be in [[lower Manhattan]].<ref name=McCarter308>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=308|ps=.}}</ref> Instead, in March 1944, Rebay and Guggenheim acquired a site on Manhattan's [[Upper East Side]], at the corner of [[89th Street (Manhattan)|89th Street]] and the [[Museum Mile, New York|Museum Mile]] section of [[Fifth Avenue]], overlooking [[Central Park]].<ref name=Stern809/><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 21, 1944 |title=Ultra-Modern Museum to Rise in 5th Ave. To House Non-Objective Art Collection |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/03/21/archives/ultramodern-museum-to-rise-in-5th-ave-to-house-nonobjective-art.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=NPS19>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=19}}</ref> They considered numerous locations in Manhattan, as well as the [[Riverdale, Bronx|Riverdale]] section of the Bronx, overlooking the [[Hudson River]].<ref name=Stern809/><ref name=Ballon>{{harvnb|Ballon|2009|pp=22–27}}</ref> Guggenheim felt that the Fifth Avenue site's proximity to Central Park was important, as the park afforded relief from the noise, congestion and concrete of the city.<ref name=Storrer401>{{harvnb|Storrer|2002|pp=400–01}}</ref> Wright's preliminary sketches fit the site nearly perfectly, although the site was about {{convert|25|ft}} narrower than what Wright anticipated.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|pp=11, 21}}</ref> Guggenheim approved Wright's sketches in mid-1944.<ref name=Stern809/> Wright called the planned building an "Archeseum ... a building in which to see the highest".<ref name=NPS19/><ref name=NYCL8>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=8}}</ref>

Wright's designs were announced in July 1945,<ref name=NPS19/> and the museum was expected to cost $1 million and be completed within a year.<ref name="nyt-1945-07-10">{{Cite news |date=July 10, 1945 |title=Museum Building to Rise as Spiral; New Guggenheim Structure Designed by F.L. Wright Is Called First of Kind |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/07/10/archives/museum-building-to-rise-as-spiral-new-guggenheim-structure-designed.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The structure's main feature was a main gallery with a helical ramp, surrounding a [[lightwell]] with a skylight.<ref name="nyt-1945-07-10" /><ref>{{cite news |date=July 10, 1945 |title=Wright Designs Bizarre 5th Av. Art Museum: His First Building in City, on Novel Lines, to House Guggenheim Collection |page=7 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1337120835}}}}</ref> Guests would board an elevator to reach the top; a second, steeper ramp would serve as an emergency exit.<ref name=Stern809/> There would be a movie theater in the basement, an elevator tower topped by an observatory, and a smaller building featuring a smaller theater,<ref name=Pfeiffer21>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=21}}</ref> in addition to storage space, a library and a cafe.<ref name="nyt-1945-07-10" /><ref name=NYCLint8>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=8}}</ref> Preliminary plans also included apartments for Guggenheim and Rebay, but these plans were scrapped.<ref name=Pfeiffer21/> Guggenheim acquired an additional parcel of land on 88th Street that July.<ref name=Stern811>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=811}}</ref> Wright built a model of the museum at [[Taliesin (studio)|Taliesin]], his home in Wisconsin,<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|pp=21, 25}}</ref> and displayed it at the Plaza Hotel that September.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 21, 1945 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Shows Plan Of a Fifth Avenue Art Museum |page=34 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1287100423}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1945-09-21">{{Cite news |date=September 21, 1945 |title=Model is Unveiled of New Museum Here; Spiral-shaped Art Center Proposed for the City |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/09/21/archives/model-is-unveiled-of-new-museum-here-spiralshaped-art-center.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==== Difficulties ====
The building's construction was delayed, first because of material shortages caused by World War II,<ref name=Stern811/><ref name="New York Herald Tribune 1946"/> then by increasing construction costs after the war.<ref name=Pfeiffer21/><ref name=Stern811/> By late 1946, Guggenheim and Rebay had redesigned the basement theater to accommodate concerts.<ref name="New York Herald Tribune 1946">{{cite news |date=November 5, 1946 |title=Wright Details How Museum Will Blend Arts: Construction on Circular Building of Non-Objective Painting Starts in Spring |page=27 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1287185430}}}}</ref> Rebay and Wright disagreed over several aspects of the design, such as the means by which the paintings were to be mounted,<ref name=Stern811/><ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|pp=7–8}}</ref> although they both wanted the design to "reflect the unity of art and architecture".<ref name=NPS23>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=23}}</ref> Wright continued to modify his plans during the late 1940s, largely because of concerns over the building's lighting, and created another model of the museum in 1947.<ref name=Pfeiffer25>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=25}}</ref> The collection was greatly expanded in 1948 through the purchase of art dealer [[Karl Nierendorf]]'s estate of some 730 works.<ref name=Calnek/>

Progress remained stalled through the late 1940s,<ref name=Stern812>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=812}}</ref> and William Muschenheim renovated an existing townhouse on the site, at 1071 Fifth Avenue, for the museum's use.<ref name=Stern812 /><ref name=NPS22>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=22}}</ref> Guggenheim's health was in decline, but he refused Wright's offer to downsize the planned building so it could be completed during Guggenheim's lifetime.<ref name=Pfeiffer25/> After Guggenheim died in 1949, members of the [[Guggenheim family]] on the foundation's board of directors had personal and philosophical differences with Rebay.<ref name=Rebaybio>[http://pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org/hilla_rebay/biographies_1.html "Biography: Hilla Rebay"], Art of Tomorrow: Hilla Rebay and Solomon R. Guggenheim, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved March 8, 2012.</ref> Under Rebay's leadership, the museum had become what [[Aline B. Saarinen]] described as an "esoteric, occult place in which a mystic language was spoken".<ref name="nyt-1954-05-30">{{Cite news |last=Saarinen |first=Aline B. |date=May 30, 1954 |title=Lively Gallery for Living Art; Manhattan's Guggenheim is off to an exuberant new start as a showcase for pioneers who 'open up a different corner of vision' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/05/30/archives/lively-gallery-for-living-art-manhattans-guggenheim-is-off-to-an.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=NPS15>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=15}}</ref> Some of the museum's staff and trustees wished to oust Rebay and cancel Wright's design.<ref name=Stern812 /><ref name=NPS22/> Wright, however, persuaded several members of the Guggenheim family to acquire additional land on Fifth Avenue so his design could be developed in full.<ref name=Stern812/><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=22–23}}</ref>

To accommodate the growing collection, in August 1951 the Guggenheim Foundation acquired an apartment building at 1 East 88th Street to remodel for museum use.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 5, 1951 |title=Non-Objective Art Museum Plans to Grow: Remodeling of Apartment Building Will Allow More Paintings To Be Shown |page=24 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1322198382}}}}</ref><ref name="Newsday 1951">{{cite news |date=August 13, 1951 |title=Guggenheim Fund Buys Exhibit Site |page=6 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|873053656}}}}</ref> It now owned a continuous frontage on Fifth Avenue from 88th to 89th Street.<ref name="Newsday 1951"/><ref name=Pfeiffer29>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=29}}</ref> This prompted Wright to redesign the new building yet again, proposing a multi-story annex with apartments behind the museum.<ref name=Stern812/><ref name=Pfeiffer29/><ref name=NPS23/> The foundation also announced that the museum would start exhibiting "objective" works of art, as well as older artwork.<ref name=NPS15/><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 5, 1951 |title=Museum Changing Exhibition Policy; Guggenheim Foundation Will Show Old Masters as Well as Non-Objective Works |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/08/05/archives/museum-changing-exhibition-policy-guggenheim-foundation-will-show.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Rebay, who disagreed with this policy, resigned as director of the museum in March 1952.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 30, 1952 |title=Miss Rebay Quits as Head Of Non-Objective Museum |page=9 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1313587133}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1952-03-30">{{Cite news |last=Louchheim |first=Aline B. |date=March 30, 1952 |title=Museum Will File Plans for Building; Changes Made by Non-Objective Painting Institution – Hilla Rebay Is Director Emeritus |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/03/30/archives/museum-will-file-plans-for-building-changes-made-by-nonobjective.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Nevertheless, she left a portion of her personal collection to the foundation in her will.<ref name=cork>[http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/museums/guggenheim-new-york.htm "Guggenheim Museum New York"], ''Encyclopedia of Art'', visual-arts-cork.com. Retrieved April 18, 2012.</ref> Shortly after Rebay resigned, Wright filed plans for the building, which was now projected to cost $2 million.<ref name=nytCost/> It was renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952.<ref name=Rebaybio/>

=== Sweeney era ===
[[James Johnson Sweeney]] was appointed the museum's director in October 1952.<ref name="nyt-1952-10-15">{{Cite news |date=October 15, 1952 |title=New Director Appointed By Guggenheim Museum |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/10/15/archives/new-director-appointed-by-guggenheim-museum.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 15, 1952 |title=James J. Sweeney Heads Guggenheim Museum |page=27 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1320022316}}}}</ref> He expanded the foundation's collecting criteria, rejecting Rebay's dismissal of "objective" painting and sculpture,<ref name=Krens11a>{{harvnb|Krens|1993|p=11|ps=.}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1954-05-11">{{Cite news |date=May 11, 1954 |title=Museum Points Up Change in Policy; Display of American Art Due at Guggenheim Departs From 'Non Objective' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/05/11/archives/museum-points-up-change-in-policy-display-of-american-art-due-at.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and started exhibiting some of the works placed in storage under Rebay's leadership.<ref name=NPS15/><ref>{{harvnb|Krens|1993|pp=11–12|ps=.}}</ref> In 1953, the museum hosted a retrospective of Wright's work, "Sixty Years of Living Architecture",<ref name=NPS26>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Louchheim |first=Aline B. |date=October 4, 1953 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Talks of His Art; And takes a retrospective look at a lifetime of architectural innovation. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/10/04/archives/frank-lloyd-wright-talks-of-his-art-and-takes-a-retrospective-look.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in a temporary pavilion Wright had designed.<ref name=Pfeiffer33/><ref name=Stern812/>

==== Construction and opening ====
[[File:Guggenheim Museum construction LOC gsc.5a25494.jpg|thumb|300px|Photo of the construction, November 12, 1957]]
Sweeney and Wright had a strained relationship, as they disagreed over basic elements of the museum's plan.<ref name=Stern812/><ref name="NPS pp. 23–24">{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=23–24}}</ref> Sweeney, who believed its architecture should be subservient to the art, forced Wright to redesign it to accommodate more offices and storage facilities.<ref name="NPS pp. 23–24"/> The building's lighting was a significant point of contention between them.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |author-link=Grace Glueck |date=April 15, 1986 |title=James Johnson Sweeney Dies; Art Critic and Museum Head |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/15/obituaries/james-johnson-sweeney-dies-art-critic-and-museum-head.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=Stern814>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=814}}</ref> The [[New York City Department of Buildings]] (DOB) also rejected Wright's application for a construction permit in 1953 because the design did not meet building codes.<ref name="nyt-1959-04-10">{{Cite news |date=April 10, 1959 |title=Only Commission in New York Was Guggenheim Art Museum |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/04/10/archives/only-commission-in-new-york-was-guggenheim-art-museum.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Wright tasked Holden with ensuring that the design met codes<ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=25–26}}</ref> and published revised drawings in 1954 and 1956.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|pp=29, 33}}</ref> Museum staff nevertheless complained that Wright's design did not provide enough storage or laboratory space.<ref name="nyt-1959-04-10" /> To save money, he modified the design again in 1955, though these savings were canceled out by increasing construction costs.<ref name=Stern814/>

Four general contractors submitted bids in late 1954,<ref name=Stern814/> and the foundation ultimately hired the Euclid Construction Corporation.<ref name="Newsday 1956">{{cite news |date=May 8, 1956 |title=Start Guggenheim Museum Job in NY |page=4 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|879069229}}}}</ref><ref name=Pfeiffer33>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.| p=33}}</ref> The museum rented the [[Oliver Gould Jennings House]] at 7 East 72nd Street and relocated there before construction began.<ref name=Stern814/> On May 6, 1956, demolition of the site's existing buildings began.<ref name="Newsday 1956"/><ref>{{cite news |date=May 7, 1956 |title=Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright Is Begun |page=A10 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1327080364}}}}</ref> The DOB issued a construction permit on May 23,<ref name=Stern814/> and work on the museum began on August 14.<ref name=Pfeiffer33 /><ref name=Stern814/> Wright opened an office in New York City to oversee the construction, which he felt required his personal attention, and appointed his son-in-law [[William Wesley Peters]] to supervise the day-to-day work.<ref name=Stern812/><ref name=Pfeiffer33/> In practice, neither Wright nor Peters visited the site frequently, so Holden's William Short ended up managing the project.<ref name=Stern814/>

Sweeney wanted the new museum to allow "building up a collection which offers up a standard of judgment".<ref name="nyt-1956-11-18">{{Cite news |last=Ashton |first=Dore |date=November 18, 1956 |title=Museum; Director of Guggenheim Discusses His Plans An Ambitious Program |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/11/18/archives/museum-director-of-guggenheim-discusses-his-plans-an-ambitious.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He wanted to change the color scheme, level out the sloping walls and remove the clerestory windows, which led to prolonged disputes with Wright.<ref name=NPS25/><ref name=Stern816/><ref name=Pfeiffer34>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|pp=34–35}}</ref> By early 1958, [[Harry F. Guggenheim]] had to handle all communications between Sweeney and Wright, who would not speak to each other.<ref name=Stern816>{{harvnb|Stern| Mellins|Fishman|1995| ps=.| p=816}}</ref> The building [[topped out]] in May 1958,<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 1958 |title=Window Leaks Overcome |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1958-06.pdf |magazine=Architectural Forum |volume=102 |page=11}}</ref><ref name=Stern815>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=815}}</ref> and the scaffolding on the facade was removed by that August.<ref name=Stern815/><ref>{{cite news |date=August 31, 1958 |title=Guggenheim Museum Progresses |page=R2 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|114561749}}}}</ref> Meanwhile, Wright published drawings of the design in several architectural magazines, as he feared the design would be compromised after his death.<ref name=Stern816/><ref name=NPS25>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=25}}</ref> Against his request, Sweeney painted the walls white and hung paintings from metal bars instead of placing them directly on the walls.<ref name=NPS25/><ref name=Pfeiffer34/> The building was Wright's last major work; he died in April 1959, six months before its opening.<ref name=time>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163633/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892851,00.html "Art: Last Monument"]. ''Time''. November 2, 1959.</ref>

The building [[Soft launch|soft-opened]] for members of the media on October 20, 1959.<ref name=Stern816/> It was formally dedicated the next day,{{sfn|Spector|2001|p=16}}<ref name="nyt-1959-10-22">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=October 22, 1959 |title=New Art Museum Is Dedicated Here |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/22/archives/new-art-museum-is-dedicated-here-dedication-fete-held-at-museum.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Bird 1959">{{cite news |last=Bird |first=Robert S. |date=October 22, 1959 |title=600 an Hour See Guggenheim Museum: Thrilled, Puzzled, Angered by Frank Lloyd Wright Structure |page=18 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1328041965}}}}</ref> drawing 600 visitors per hour.<ref name="Bird 1959"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Wood |first=Francis |date=October 22, 1959 |title=Guggenheim Art Museum Draws Crowds, Praise |page=4 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|898127716}}}}</ref> Its design was generally able to accommodate the retrospectives and temporary exhibits that it hosted over the years.<ref name=Loebl283/>

===Messer era===
Sweeney resigned as the museum's director in July 1960, citing philosophical differences with the board of trustees,<ref>{{cite news |last=Lyle |first=David |date=July 21, 1960 |title=Guggenheim Museum Head Quits: Sweeney Resigns as Director, Issue Unrevealed |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1327113702}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1960-07-21">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=July 21, 1960 |title=Guggenheim Museum Director Resigns in Difference of 'Ideals'; Sweeney Revised Wright's Design for Building Before Opening Last October |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/07/21/archives/guggenheim-museum-director-resigns-in-difference-of-ideals-sweeney.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and H. H. Arnason took over as temporary director.<ref name=NPS15/><ref name="nyt-1960-12-07">{{Cite news |date=December 7, 1960 |title=Guggenheim Fund Names Trustee |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/07/archives/guggenheim-fund-names-trustee.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He launched "the first survey of Abstract Expressionism in a New York museum" during his brief time as director.<ref name=NPS15/><ref name=Krens19>{{harvnb|Krens|1993|p=19|ps=.}}</ref> [[Thomas M. Messer]], director of the [[Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston|Boston Institute of Contemporary Art]], succeeded Sweeney as director in January 1961; he worked under Sweeney, who continued to run the foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=January 31, 1961 |title=Guggenheim Picks Museum Director; Thomas Messer, Head of Boston Institute, Named to Art Post Here |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/31/archives/guggenheim-picks-museum-director-thomas-messer-head-of-boston.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=O'Neill |first=Maureen |date=January 31, 1961 |title=Name Boston Art Expert Director of Guggenheim |page=4 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|898266255}}}}</ref> Messer stayed for 27 years, the longest tenure of any director of a major New York art institution.{{sfn|Kumar|2011|loc=chapter: "Thomas Messer"}} Under his leadership, the museum's collection expanded significantly.<ref name=NPS16>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|pp=15–16}}; {{harvnb|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|ps=.|p=20}}</ref> The collection pivoted toward more contemporary artists, including those from Europe and Latin America,<ref name=NPS16/> and expanded in scope to become "New York's second museum of modern art".<ref name="n162068271">{{Cite news |last=Armstrong |first=Kiley |date=1987-11-22 |title=NYC's Guggenheim Museum celebrates 50 years of art |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-journal-news-nycs-guggenheim-museum/162068271/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The Journal News |pages=120 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Messer was not considered "an especially controversial director", though he also did not adhere to "the blockbuster school of exhibiting".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Bruce |date=May 16, 2013 |title=Thomas M. Messer, Museum Director Who Gave Guggenheim Cachet, Dies at 93 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/arts/design/thomas-m-messer-guggenheim-museum-director-dies-at-93.html |access-date=October 20, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==== 1960s ====
[[File:Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum skylight.jpg|thumb|left|The skylight in the center of the museum]]
When Messer joined the Guggenheim, the museum's ability to present artworks was still doubted because of the tilted and curved walls.<ref name=Russell1987a>{{Cite news |author-link=John Russell (art critic) |last=Russell |first=John |date=November 5, 1987 |title=Director of Guggenheim Retiring After 27 Years |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/05/arts/director-of-guggenheim-retiring-after-27-years.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Almost immediately after becoming director, in 1962, he put on a large exhibition that combined the Guggenheim's paintings with [[sculpture]]s on loan from the [[Hirshhorn Museum|Hirshhorn collection]].<ref name=Russell1987a/> In particular, there were difficulties installing three-dimensional sculptures because the slope of the floor and the curvature of the walls could combine to produce vexing optical illusions.<ref name=Canaday1962>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=August 17, 1962 |title=Museum Director Solves Problem; Guggenheim Official Faces Troubles of Architecture |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/08/17/archives/museum-director-solves-problem-guggenheim-official-faces-troubles.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Though the combination proved generally to work well in the Guggenheim, Messer recalled that, at the time, "I was scared. I half felt that this would be my last exhibition."<ref name=Russell1987a/> He had staged a smaller sculpture exhibition the previous year, where he learned how to compensate for the space's unusual geometry by constructing special [[plinth]]s at a particular angle, but this was impossible for one piece, an [[Alexander Calder]] [[Mobile (sculpture)|mobile]] whose wire inevitably hung at a true [[Plumb bob|plumb]] vertical.<ref name=Canaday1962/>

After Messer acquired a private collection from art dealer [[Justin Thannhauser]] in 1963,<ref name="Spiegler 1963">{{cite news |last=Spiegler |first=William |date=October 24, 1963 |title=Museum Will Get Major Art Collection |page=5 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|913630157}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1963-10-24">{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=October 24, 1963 |title=Guggenheim Gets Major Art Works; Gift Will Eventually Bring 34 Picassos to Museum |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/10/24/archives/guggenheim-gets-major-art-works-gift-will-eventually-bring-34.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the Guggenheim hired Peters to renovate the monitor's second floor.<ref name=Pfeiffer37>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=37}}</ref><ref name=NYCL12/> Thannhauser's collection was displayed within the monitor after the renovation was completed in 1965.<ref name=NYCL12>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=12}}</ref>{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=22}} The foundation auctioned off artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries, which was incompatible with the museum's modern-art collection.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 27, 1962 |title=Guggenheim Art to Be Auctioned; Works of Old Masters Will Be Sold in London June 27 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/27/archives/guggenheim-art-to-be-auctioned-works-of-old-masters-will-be-sold-in.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Rebay, who died in 1967, bequeathed over 600 artworks to the Guggenheim, although the museum did not receive the collection until 1971.<ref name="nyt-1971-05-15">{{Cite news |date=May 15, 1971 |title=Guggenheim Acquires 250 Works of Modern Art |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/15/archives/guggenheim-acquires-250-works-of-modern-art.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> To raise money for further acquisitions, such as the works in Rebay's collections, the Guggenheim also sold off some modern artwork, including several Kandinsky works.<ref name="nyt-1971-08-16">{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=August 16, 1971 |title=Guggenheim Will Auction 47 Works by Kandinsky |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/08/16/archives/guggenheim-will-auction-47-works-by-kandinsky.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

To accommodate the expanding collection, in 1963, the Guggenheim announced plans for a four-story annex,<ref name="nyt-1963-10-10">{{Cite news |date=October 10, 1963 |title=Guggenheim Files Plans for an Annex On 13-Foot Stilts |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/10/10/archives/guggenheim-files-plans-for-an-annex-on-13foot-stilts.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> which the [[New York City Board of Standards and Appeals]] approved the next year.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 16, 1964 |title=Guggenheim Museum Will Expand |page=15 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|913627428}}}}</ref> [[William Wesley Peters]] of [[Taliesin Associated Architects]], the successor firm to Wright's practice, designed the addition.<ref name="Goldberger x465">{{cite web |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=February 19, 1985 |title=Guggenheim Museum Plans to Erect an 11-story, $12 Million Addition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/19/arts/guggenheim-museum-plans-to-erect-an-11-story-12-million-addition.html |access-date=January 2, 2025 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The annex was downsized to two stories in 1966 due to complaints from local residents,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Raymont |first=Henry |date=November 8, 1966 |title=Annex of Museum Cut by 2 Stories; Guggenheim Drops Original Plans Calling for 4 Floors Because of the Cost |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/11/08/archives/annex-of-museum-cut-by-2-stories-guggenheim-drops-original-plans.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and was completed in 1968.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name="NPS pp. 7–8"/> This freed up space on the main gallery's top two levels, which had been used as workshops and storage space ever since the building opened. Museum officials opened the top levels to the public in 1968.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 7, 1969 |title=The Gallery: Art of Architecture |page=20 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|133395635}}}}</ref>

==== 1970s and 1980s ====
In 1971, with increasing costs and decreasing endowment income, the Guggenheim recorded a large [[Deficit spending|deficit]] for the first time in its history.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 4, 1972 |title=Admission to Guggenheim Raised From 50 Cents to $1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/04/archives/admission-to-guggenheim-raised-from-50-cents-to-1.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Additionally, although Wright had included space for a cafe at the southern end of the museum building, the space was instead used by the conservation and framing departments.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/> The foundation proposed adding a lobby and restaurant in the museum's driveway area in early 1973<ref>{{Cite news |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=February 19, 1973 |title=Guggenheim Museum to Alter Facade |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/19/archives/guggenheim-museum-to-alter-facade-vision-to-be-maintained.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> but had difficulty agreeing on the plans,<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 15, 1973 |title=Guggenheim Museum to Review Plan to Alter Building's Facade |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/15/archives/guggenheim-museum-to-review-plan-to-alter-buildings-facade.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> which were revised that November.<ref name="nyt-1973-11-10">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=November 10, 1973 |title=Guggenheim Modifies Alteration |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/10/archives/guggenheim-modifies-alteration-a-wall-of-glass.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As part of the project, designed by Donald E. Freed, the museum closed its driveway and added a dining area and bookstore there.<ref name="nyt-1973-11-10" /><ref name="NYCL pp. 12–13"/> Facing a growing deficit and a shortage of exhibit space, the Guggenheim announced in 1977 that it would raise $20 million over the following five years.<ref name="nyt-1977-12-24">{{Cite news |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=December 24, 1977 |title=Guggenheim Starts Drive to Raise $20 Million |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/24/archives/guggenheim-starts-drive-to-raise-20-million.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Museum officials also planned to expand the annex on 89th Street.<ref name="nyt-1977-12-24" />

Messer became director of the Guggenheim Foundation in 1980 and continued to serve as the museum director, promoting two curators to directorial positions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 8, 1980 |title=2 Guggenheim Curators Promoted to Directors; 'Seemed Appropriate' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/08/archives/2-guggenheim-curators-promoted-to-directors-seemed-appropriate.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Guggenheim renovated the Thannhauser wing in the early 1980s.<ref name="nyt-1982-11-28">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=November 28, 1982 |title=Art View; a Redesigned Wing Adds Luster to the Guggenheim |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/28/arts/art-view-a-redesigned-wing-adds-luster-to-the-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Following these changes, John Russell of ''The New York Times'' wrote that the Thannhauser Collection "may now be said to be the equivalent of [[Frick Collection|the Frick]] in the domain of modern art."<ref name="nyt-1982-11-28" /> "[[Works & Process]]", a series of performances at the Guggenheim, commenced in 1984.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/works-and-process |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206122056/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/works-and-process |archive-date=December 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |title=Works & Process |access-date=August 13, 2016}}</ref>

In 1982 [[Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects]] drew up designs for an 11-story annex on 88th Street, behind the existing museum building.<ref name=NYCL13/> The original plan, announced in February 1985,<ref name="Goldberger x465" /><ref name="n162091115">{{Cite news |last=Stevens |first=Elisabeth |date=1985-02-24 |title=N.Y.'s Guggenheim plans $12 million addition |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-nys-guggenheim-plan/162091115/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=164}}</ref> would have been cantilevered over the existing building.<ref name=NYCL13>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=October 10, 1985 |title=An Appraisal; Architecture: a Design for Guggenheim Tower |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/10/arts/an-appraisal-architecture-a-design-for-guggenheim-tower.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The design was downsized to 10 stories in early 1987 due to opposition from local residents.<ref name="nyt-1987-02-11">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=February 11, 1987 |title=Guggenheim Museum Proposing Scaled-down Design for Addition |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/11/arts/guggenheim-museum-proposing-scaled-down-design-for-addition.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ladd |first=Scott |date=February 11, 1987 |title=Revised Design Proposed for Guggenheim |pages=35 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110706549/revised-design-proposed-for/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> At the time, the building could only exhibit 150 pieces, about 3 percent of the museum's 5000-work collection.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ladd |first=Scott |date=July 6, 1987 |title=Guggenheim Look Still Arouses Passions |pages=27 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110706437/guggenheim-look-still-arouses/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> In anticipation of the annex's construction and a wider-ranging renovation of the older building, Gwathmey Siegel also renovated the Thannhauser wing's second floor and the top level of the main gallery's ramp in 1987.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mays |first=Vernon |date=Apr 1989 |title=Revealing Wright |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1989-04.PDF |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=68 |page=82}}</ref> The Board of Standards and Appeals approved the 89th Street annex that October,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 21, 1987 |title=Museum Addition Approved |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/21/nyregion/museum-addition-approved.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lippman |first=Barbara |date=October 22, 1987 |title=Museum gets a variance |pages=141 |work=New York Daily News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110706605/museum-gets-a-variancebarbara-lippman/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> despite continuing opposition.<ref name="nyt-1990-11-28">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=November 28, 1990 |title=Guggenheim Withdraws Design Change |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/28/arts/guggenheim-withdraws-design-change.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Messer retired the next month, on the 50th anniversary of the collection's founding.<ref name="nyt-1987-11-05">{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=November 5, 1987 |title=Director of Guggenheim Retiring After 27 Years |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/05/arts/director-of-guggenheim-retiring-after-27-years.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The [[New York City Board of Estimate]] approved plans for the Guggenheim's annex in 1988,<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=January 15, 1988 |title=Guggenheim Expansion Plan Upheld |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/15/arts/guggenheim-expansion-plan-upheld.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and the [[New York Supreme Court]] upheld the Board of Estimate's decision.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 23, 1988 |title=Guggenheim Plan Upheld |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/23/arts/guggenheim-plan-upheld.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Krens era===
[[Thomas Krens]], former director of the [[Williams College Museum of Art]], took over as the director of both the museum and the foundation in January 1988.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=January 13, 1988 |title=Guggenheim Names a New Director |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/13/arts/guggenheim-names-a-new-director.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Wallach |first=Amei |date=January 13, 1988 |title=New Director for Guggenheim Museum |page=B9 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|1813318343}}}}</ref> Over his nearly two-decade tenure, he led a rapid expansion of the museum's collections,<ref name="nyt-2008-02-28">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=February 28, 2008 |title=Provocative Guggenheim director resigns |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/arts/28iht-gugg.1.10523443.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and the museum mounted some of its most popular exhibitions,<ref name=nyt-2005-04-27>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 27, 2005 |title=A Museum Visionary Envisions More |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/arts/design/a-museum-visionary-envisions-more.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> including "Africa: The Art of a Continent" in 1996;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=June 7, 1996 |title=Art Review; An African Anthology Of Rewarding Objects |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/07/arts/art-review-an-african-anthology-of-rewarding-objects.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> "China: 5,000 Years" in 1998;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Janny |date=April 9, 1998 |title=Need Chinese Art? Call Diplomats; Even Kissinger Aided Guggenheim Negotiations for a Show |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/09/arts/need-chinese-art-call-diplomats-even-kissinger-aided-guggenheim-negotiations-for.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> "Brazil: Body & Soul" in 2001;<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 16, 2001 |title=Travel Advisory; Brazilian Treasures On Loan in New York |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/travel/travel-advisory-brazilian-treasures-on-loan-in-new-york.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and "The Aztec Empire" in 2004.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=October 15, 2004 |title=A Lost Culture, Drenched in Blood and Beauty |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/arts/design/a-lost-culture-drenched-in-blood-and-beauty.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Unusual exhibitions included "[[The Art of the Motorcycle]]", an [[industrial design]] installation of motorcycles.<ref name=Sudjic/><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Plagens |first=Peter |title=Rumble on the Ramps. ('The Art of the Motorcycle', Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York) |date=September 7, 1998 |magazine=Newsweek |volume=132 |issue=10 |page=80 |id={{ProQuest|214306480}}}}</ref> 

{{Anchor|Guggenheim Museum SoHo}}The Guggenheim Museum SoHo, designed by [[Arata Isozaki]], opened in June 1992 at the corner of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and Prince Street in [[SoHo, Manhattan]].<ref name="Smith 1992 g499">{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Roberta |title=Review/Art; Guggenheim Reopens on a New Chapter |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |date=June 29, 1992 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/29/arts/review-art-guggenheim-reopens-on-a-new-chapter.html |access-date=April 18, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Wallach 1992 f827">{{cite web |last=Wallach |first=Amei |title=A Museum Makeover: New Guggenheim: Big Time, Big Business and Blue Chip |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |date=June 16, 1992 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-16-ca-4434-story.html |access-date=April 18, 2024}}</ref> The SoHo building's exhibits included ''Marc Chagall and the Jewish Theater'', ''Paul Klee at the Guggenheim Museum'', ''Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective'' and ''Andy Warhol: The Last Supper''.<ref name=nyt-1999-02-05/> It did not meet visitor forecasts<ref name=nyt-1999-02-05>{{cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=February 5, 1999 |title=Inside Art; Guggenheim Shrinks in SoHo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/05/arts/inside-art-guggenheim-shrinks-in-soho.html |access-date=July 31, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and closed in 2002.<ref name="nyt-2002-06-30"/>
 
==== 1990s ====
[[Image:guggenheim flw show.jpg|thumb|right|325px|An interior view of the museum on a busy day]]
Shortly after becoming director, Krens decided to spend $24 million renovating the Guggenheim.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-12">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=August 12, 1991 |title=In Guggenheim Restoration, Wright Laughs Last |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/12/arts/in-guggenheim-restoration-wright-laughs-last.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Work commenced in late 1989. The museum initially remained open,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Joan |date=October 9, 1988 |title=Guggenheim Museum will keep its doors open during restoration work |pages=534 |work=New York Daily News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110707823/guggenheim-museum-will-keep-its-doors/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> but later closed for 18 months.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wallach |first=Amei |date=April 11, 1990 |title='Obsession' at the Guggenheim |pages=176, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110722938/ 184] |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110722906/obsession-at-the-guggenheimamei/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 27, 1990 |title=Guggenheim Museum Closing for 18 Months |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/27/arts/guggenheim-museum-closing-for-18-months.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The monitor wing was restored, the 88th Street wing was converted from a conservation laboratory to a restaurant, and additional exhibition space was created at the top of the main gallery.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-12" /> The 89th Street annex was built as part of this project,<ref name="Wallach 1992 f827"/><ref name="nyt-1990-11-28" /> and the basement was extended under Fifth Avenue.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-122">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=August 12, 1991 |title=In Guggenheim Restoration, Wright Laughs Last |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/12/arts/in-guggenheim-restoration-wright-laughs-last.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The windows were replaced and the clerestory windows along the ramp were unsealed and restored to their original design.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-122" /><ref name=Sennott572>{{harvnb|Sennott|2004|ps=.|pp=572–73}}</ref> The building's exhibition space roughly doubled, allowing the museum to show 6 percent of its collection.<ref name="Kimball 1992">{{cite news |last=Kimball |first=Roger |date=July 2, 1992 |title=Leisure & Arts: Rehabbed Guggenheim Museum's Coming-out Party |page=A5 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|135563875}}}}</ref>

The renovation was completed on June 27, 1992.<ref name="nyt-1992-06-28">{{Cite news |date=June 28, 1992 |title=Evening Hours; Guggenheim In a New Light |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/style/evening-hours-guggenheim-in-a-new-light.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="McGuigan 1992">{{cite magazine |last=McGuigan |first=Cathleen |date=June 29, 1992 |title=Do the Wright Thing: The Guggenheim Museum reopens, splendidly restored and with a controversial new addition |magazine=Newsweek |volume=119 |issue=26 |pages=58–59, 62 |id={{ProQuest|1879161785}}}}</ref> The museum's offices were moved to the annex, the basement and the former Guggenheim Museum SoHo, and storage space and [[Conservation and restoration of paintings|conservation]] activities were moved to other buildings.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-122" /> The new annex allowed the museum to show more works from its permanent collection, as well as temporary exhibitions.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jermanok |first=Stephen |date=April 17, 1994 |title=New York: Everything Old Is New Again; New York's Master Museums Redesign Themselves |page=E06 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|307730105}}}}</ref> The foundation acquired 200 photographs from [[Robert Mapplethorpe]] in 1992<ref name="nyt-1992-12-04">{{Cite news |last=Hagen |first=Charles |date=December 4, 1992 |title=$5 Million to Foundation by Mapplethorpe Group |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/04/arts/article-113792-no-title.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Wallach 1992">{{Cite news |last=Wallach |first=Amei |date=December 4, 1992 |title=$5-Million Mapplethorpe Gift |pages=201 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110808225/5-million-mapplethorpe-giftamei/ |access-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref> and renamed the annex's fourth-floor gallery after him in 1993.<ref name="nyt-1993-12-26">{{Cite news |last=Hagen |first=Charles |date=December 26, 1993 |title=The Year in the Arts: Art & Photography/1993; An Era Ended, a Ghost Haunted the Guggenheim |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/26/arts/year-arts-art-photography-1993-era-ended-ghost-haunted-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

To finance the renovation and new acquisitions, the foundation sold works by Kandinsky, [[Marc Chagall|Chagall]] and [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]], raising $47&nbsp;million. This move was controversial, drawing considerable criticism for trading masters for "trendy" latecomers. In ''The New York Times'', critic [[Michael Kimmelman]] wrote that the sales "stretched the accepted rules of [[Deaccessioning#Deaccessioning|deaccessioning]] further than many American institutions have been willing to do."<ref name=Sennott572/><ref name=Kimmelman1998>{{Cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=April 1, 1990 |title=Art View; The High Cost of Selling Art |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/01/arts/art-view-the-high-cost-of-selling-art.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Krens defended the action as consistent with the museum's principles by expanding its international collection and building its "postwar collection to the strength of our pre-war holdings",<ref name=Glueck>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=March 5, 1990 |title=Guggenheim May Sell Artworks To Pay for a Major New Collection |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/05/arts/guggenheim-may-sell-artworks-to-pay-for-a-major-new-collection.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and noted that museums regularly conduct such sales.<ref name=Kimmelman1998/> He also expanded the foundation's international presence by opening museums abroad.<ref>Russell, James S. [https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3nVuX5IVJCE "Guggenheim's Krens Eyes Hudson Yards Museum, Seeks New Bilbaos"], Bloomberg, March 11, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2012.</ref>

Krens was also criticized for his businesslike style and perceived populism and commercialization.<ref name="Sudjic">{{cite news |last=Sudjic |first=Deyan |title=Is this the end of the Guggenheim dream? |work=The Guardian |date=January 23, 2005 |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/jan/23/art.museums |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 27, 1998 |title=For Museums, Bigger Is Better |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB911879208127582000 |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> One writer commented, "Krens has been both praised and vilified for turning what was once a small New York institution into a worldwide brand, creating the first truly multinational arts institution. ... Krens transformed the Guggenheim into one of the best-known brand names in the arts."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mahoney |first=Sarah |date=October 2, 2006 |title=Thomas Krens |periodical=Advertising Age |volume=77 |issue=40 |page=I-8}}</ref> The museum cut back its operating hours in 1994, causing a 25 percent decline in annual attendance, even as the city's other art museums saw increased attendance.<ref name="Plagens 1996">{{cite magazine |last=Plagens |first=Peter |date=May 20, 1996 |title=In a Spiral: The Guggenheim Museum's controversial director keeps wheeling and dealing. But what's art got to do with it? |magazine=Newsweek |volume=127 |issue=21 |pages=68–70 |id={{ProQuest|1866753762}}}}</ref>

[[Samuel J. LeFrak]] announced in December 1993 that he would donate $10 million, the largest cash donation in the museum's history, with the Fifth Avenue building to be renamed for him and his wife.<ref name="nyt-1993-12-14">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=December 14, 1993 |title=Guggenheim Honors the LeFraks |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/14/arts/guggenheim-honors-the-lefraks.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Disch |first=Thomas M. |date=December 21, 1993 |title=What's in a Name... |pages=257 |work=Daily News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110752500/whats-in-a-namethomas-m-disch/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> The next month, [[Ronald O. Perelman]] announced that he would also donate $10 million.<ref name="nyt-1994-01-20">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=January 20, 1994 |title=Revlon's Chairman Donates $10 Million to the Guggenheim |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/20/arts/revlon-s-chairman-donates-10-million-to-the-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Snow |first=Shauna |date=January 21, 1994 |title=A $10-Million Present |pages=202 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110753020/a-10-million-presentshauna-snow/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> The [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC), which had designated the building as a landmark, repeatedly refused to allow officials to place a sign with LeFrak's name outside the building.<ref name="nyt-1994-12-17">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=December 17, 1994 |title=Clash Over Name Puts Museum Gift in Doubt |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/17/arts/clash-over-name-puts-museum-gift-in-doubt.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Consequently, LeFrak rescinded $8 million of his donation.<ref name="nyt-1994-12-17" /><ref name="Plagens 1996"/> [[Peter B. Lewis]] donated $10 million in 1995<ref>{{cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=October 20, 1995 |title=Trustees come through for the Guggenheim |page=C30 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|109472948}}}}</ref> for the restoration of the museum's auditorium, which was renamed the Peter B. Lewis Theater after the project was completed the next year.<ref name="Plagens 1996"/><ref name="nyt-1998-04-15">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=April 15, 1998 |title=Guggenheim Announces Record Gift, $50 Million |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/15/arts/guggenheim-announces-record-gift-50-million.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Lewis donated an additional $50 million in 1998, and several other trustees, including Perelman, increased their donations.<ref name="nyt-1998-04-15" />

==== 2000s ====
[[File:Sackler Center for Arts Education entrance view from 5th ave 88th street ramp March 2012.jpg|thumb|left|Students sketching at the entrance to the Engelberg Center]]
The museum opened an arts center in the basement in 2001; originally named for the [[Sackler family]],<ref name=Tu2002>{{cite news |last1=Tu |first1=Jeni |date=February 1, 2002 |title=Higher education meets high art |work=Dance Teacher |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-105841407.html |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription |access-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921200330/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-105841407.html |archive-date=September 21, 2014}}</ref> it was renamed the Gail May Engelberg Center for Arts Education in 2022.<ref name=Block2022/><ref name=Donnelly2022/> Also in 2001, as part of a [[Frank Gehry]] retrospective at the museum, Gehry designed a canopy, which was installed outside the fifth floor.<ref name=AR2002June>{{cite magazine |date=June 2002 |title=Guggenheim wants Gehry canopy to be permanent addition |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-06.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=190 |pages=34}}</ref><ref name="nyt-2001-05-18">{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=May 18, 2001 |title=Architecture Review; Gehry's Vision of Renovating Democracy |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/18/arts/architecture-review-gehry-s-vision-of-renovating-democracy.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It remained in place for six years after the retrospective ended.<ref name=AR2002June/><ref name="nyt-2004-06-10" />

By 2004, museum officials were raising $25 million for another restoration of the building and hired [[Swanke Hayden Connell Architects]] to survey it. By then, the structure had developed numerous leaks.<ref name="nyt-2004-06-10">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=June 10, 2004 |title=Guggenheim Museum Seeks to Restore Its Most Valuable Asset: Itself |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/arts/guggenheim-museum-seeks-to-restore-its-most-valuable-asset-itself.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After architects and engineers determined that the building was structurally sound, renovations began in September 2005 to repair cracks and modernize systems and exterior details.<ref name=Haeyoun>{{cite web |last=Park |first=Haeyoun |title=Face-Lift for an Aging Museum |work=The New York Times Web Archive |issn=0362-4331 |date=April 16, 2007 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/04/16/arts/17guggenheim-graphic.html |access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref><ref>Guggenheim Museum web site: [http://www.guggenheim.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3489&Itemid=1476 click link to podcast about restoration (10 MB, audio only, 8 min 45 sec)]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |author-link=Robin Pogrebin |date=September 10, 2007 |title=The Restorers' Art of the Invisible |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/arts/design/10gugg.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The restoration mainly consisted of exterior and infrastructure upgrades, preserving as many historical details as possible while allowing museum operations to continue.<ref>Guggenheim Museum web site: [http://www.guggenheim.org/restoration.html click link to podcast about restoration (10 MB, audio only, 8 min 45 sec)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928011550/http://www.guggenheim.org/restoration.html |date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref><ref name=AR2006Feb>{{cite magazine |last=Ulam |first=Alex |date=February 2006 |title=Guggenheim spruces up restoration with custom bridge |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2006-02.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=194 |pages=34}}</ref> On September 22, 2008, the Guggenheim celebrated the project's completion with the premiere of artist [[Jenny Holzer]]'s tribute ''For the Guggenheim''.<ref name="nyt-2008-09-23">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=September 23, 2008 |title=Guggenheim Chooses a Curator, Not a Showman |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/arts/design/24muse.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The renovation cost $29&nbsp;million and was funded by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's board of trustees, the city's [[New York City Department of Cultural Affairs|Department of Cultural Affairs]], the New York state government and MAPEI Corporation.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=August 22, 2008 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/news/guggenheim-restoration-complete |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref>

Meanwhile, during the early 2000s, Krens was involved in a long-running dispute with Lewis, who was also chairman of the foundation's board of directors.<ref name="nyt-2005-01-21">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=January 21, 2005 |title=Loyalty Prevails Over Money in Guggenheim Showdown |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/21/arts/design/loyalty-prevails-over-money-in-guggenheim-showdown.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> When admission declined by 60 percent following the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001, the museum faced budgetary deficits, as one-quarter of its revenue came from ticket sales.<ref name="nyt-2001-11-20">{{Cite news |last=Bohlen |first=Celestine |date=November 20, 2001 |title=The Guggenheim's Scaled-Back Ambition; A Museum Director's Risk-Taking Approach Gets a New Look in Hard Times |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/20/arts/guggenheim-s-scaled-back-ambition-museum-director-s-risk-taking-approach-gets.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Lewis donated $12 million to the museum in 2002 under the condition that Krens tighten the budget.<ref name="nyt-2002-12-06">{{Cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=December 6, 2002 |title=Critic's Notebook; An Era Ends for the Guggenheim |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/06/arts/critic-s-notebook-an-era-ends-for-the-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=December 5, 2002 |title=Guggenheim gets gift – with string attached |pages=5A |work=Poughkeepsie Journal |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110755399/guggenheim-gets-gift-with-string/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> Despite having given $77 million, more than any other donor in the Guggenheim's history,<ref name="nyt-2005-01-21" /><ref name="The Journal News 2005">{{Cite news |date=January 21, 2005 |title=Guggenheim chairman resigns |pages=10 |work=The Journal News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110755319/guggenheim-chairman-resigns/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> Lewis did not have as much influence over the board's decisions as did top donors at the city's other art museums.<ref name="nyt-2005-01-21" /> Lewis resigned from the board of directors in 2005, expressing opposition to Krens's plans for additional museums around the world.<ref name="The Journal News 2005" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=January 20, 2005 |title=Guggenheim Loses Top Donor in Rift on Spending and Vision |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/20/arts/design/guggenheim-loses-top-donor-in-rift-on-spending-and-vision.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Longtime curator [[Lisa Dennison]] was hired as the museum's new director in 2005, working under Krens, who continued to direct the foundation.<ref name="nyt-2005-09-21">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=September 21, 2005 |title=Museum Names New York Director |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/arts/design/museum-names-new-york-director.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Lieberman |first1=Paul |last2=Haithman |first2=Diane |date=September 22, 2005 |title=New York's Guggenheim Picks New Director |pages=38 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110755771/new-yorks-guggenheim-picks-new/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> By 2006, the museum faces a $35 million deficit, even as Dennison rejected the idea of funding exhibits through corporate sponsorships.<ref name="Wilson 2006">{{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Claire |date=October 23, 2006 |title=Elevating the Guggenheim |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=22 |issue=43 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|219156351}}}}</ref> Dennison resigned in July 2007 to work at auction house [[Sotheby's]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=July 31, 2007 |title=Director of Guggenheim Resigns to Join Sotheby's |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/arts/design/31gugg.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Tensions between Krens and the board continued, and Krens stepped down as foundation director in February 2008.<ref name="nyt-2008-02-28" />

===Armstrong era===
[[File:Richard Armstrong 2012.png|thumb|upright|Richard Armstrong, 2012]]
[[Richard Armstrong (museum director)|Richard Armstrong]], former director of the [[Carnegie Museum of Art]], became the director of the museum and the foundation in November 2008.<ref name="nyt-2008-09-23"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Boehm |first=Mike |title=Guggenheim names Richard Armstrong director |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |date=September 25, 2008 |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-guggenheim25-2008sep25-story.html |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' said the Guggenheim Foundation had selected him because his "calmer, steadier presence" contrasted with the "nearly 20 often tumultuous years of Mr. Krens's maverick vision".<ref name="nyt-2008-09-03">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=September 3, 2008 |title=Guggenheim Is Considering New Director |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/arts/design/03guggenheim.html |access-date=October 20, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In addition to its permanent collections, which continued to grow under his direction,<ref name=artdaily/> the foundation has administered loan exhibitions and co-organized exhibitions with other museums to foster public outreach.<ref name=websiteCollab>{{Cite web |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/collaborations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405012929/http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/collaborations |url-status=dead |title=Foundation website's collaborations page |archive-date=April 5, 2014}}</ref> The museum hosted exhibitions such as ''[[America (Cattelan)|America]]'' (2016), one of the smallest ever hosted there.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McDermon |first=Daniel |date=August 18, 2017 |title=Solid-Gold Toilet to Be Removed From Guggenheim in September |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/arts/design/solid-gold-toilet-to-be-removed-from-guggenheim-in-september.html |access-date=October 20, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

About 140 maintenance workers and art installers joined a [[labor union]] in 2019, the first time the museum's employees had unionized.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moynihan |first=Colin |date=June 28, 2019 |title=Guggenheim Workers Vote to Join a Union, the Museum's First |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/arts/design/guggenheim-union-vote.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=Davis2019>{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Ben |date=June 28, 2019 |title=Art Installers and Maintenance Workers at the Guggenheim Have Voted 'Yes' to Joining a Union |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guggenheim-union-1588120 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=Artnet News}}</ref> That year, [[Chaédria LaBouvier]] became the first black woman curator to create a solo exhibition and first black person to write a text published by the museum.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mitter |first=Siddhartha |date=July 30, 2019 |title=Behind Basquiat's 'Defacement': Reframing a Tragedy |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/arts/design/basquiat-defacement-guggenheim-curator.html |access-date=June 3, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=Lewis2022/> She accused the museum of racism and alleged that, among other things, officials withheld resources and refused to let journalists interview her, though an article in ''[[The Atlantic]]'' described LaBouvier as being hostile toward people who commented on her exhibition.<ref name=Lewis2022>{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Helen |title=The Guggenheim's Scapegoat |website=The Atlantic |date=October 3, 2022 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/11/guggenheim-racism-controversy-curator-nancy-spector/671529 |access-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref> Within a month of these criticisms, the museum hired its first full-time black curator, [[Ashley James (curator)|Ashley James]].<ref name=nyt-2019-11-15>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=November 15, 2019 |title=Guggenheim Hires First Full-Time Black Curator |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/arts/design/guggenheim-black-curator.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> An investigation by a law firm hired by the museum found "no evidence that Ms. LaBouvier was subject to adverse treatment on the basis of her race".<ref name="nyt-2020-10-08"/> The museum's Artistic Director and Chief Curator, [[Nancy Spector]], left the institution in 2020 after 34 years.<ref name=Lewis2022/><ref name="nyt-2020-10-08">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=October 8, 2020 |title=Guggenheim's Top Curator Is Out as Inquiry Into Basquiat Show Ends |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/arts/design/guggenheim-investigation-nancy-spector.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Guggenheim approved a plan for increasing racial diversity in August 2020,<ref name="nyt-2020-08-17a">{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |date=August 17, 2020 |title=Guggenheim Approves Diversity Plan After Staff Complaints of Racism |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/arts/design/guggenheim-diversity-plan-racism.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=Holmes2020>{{cite web |last=Holmes |first=Helen |date=August 18, 2020 |title=After Allegations of Systemic Racism, the Guggenheim Has Released a Diversity Plan |url=https://observer.com/2020/08/guggenheim-diversity-plan-chaedria-labouvier/ |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=Observer}}</ref> and it hired a "chief culture and inclusion officer" in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |last=Holmes |first=Helen |date=July 28, 2021 |title=The Guggenheim Museum Has Hired Its First Chief Culture and Inclusion Officer |url=https://observer.com/2021/07/guggenheim-museum-diversity-ty-woodfolk/ |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=Observer}}</ref>

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the Guggenheim temporarily closed in March 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pogrebin |first1=Robin |last2=Cooper |first2=Michael |date=March 12, 2020 |title=New York's Major Cultural Institutions Close in Response to Coronavirus |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/arts/design/met-museum-opera-carnegie-hall-close-coronavirus.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It reopened that October,<ref name=CBSNews2020>{{cite web |date=October 4, 2020 |title=Guggenheim Museum Reopens To Public After Months-Long Pandemic Closure |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/guggenheim-museum-reopening |access-date=October 4, 2022 |website=CBS News}}</ref><ref name=ABC7NewYork2020>{{cite web |date=October 3, 2020 |title=Reopen New York City: Guggenheim Museum welcomes back visitors on Upper East Side in Manhattan |url=https://abc7ny.com/guggenheim-when-does-the-open-reopen-museum/6740352/ |access-date=October 4, 2022 |website=ABC7 New York}}</ref> recording a monthly net loss of $1.4 million while closed.<ref name="nyt-2020-09-16">{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |date=September 16, 2020 |title=Guggenheim Cuts Staff by 11 Percent Ahead of Reopening |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/arts/guggenheim-layoffs.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It fired numerous staff members during the pandemic.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Moynihan |first=Colin |date=July 30, 2021 |title=Guggenheim Museum Curators Move to Join a Union |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/30/arts/design/guggenheim-museum-curators-union.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Holmes |first=Helen |date=August 2, 2021 |title=Guggenheim Staffers Are Putting Plans in Motion to Join a Union |url=https://observer.com/2021/08/guggenheim-staff-joining-union/ |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=Observer}}</ref> In 2022, the Guggenheim began hosting a poet-in-residence program, the first such program at a visual-art museum.<ref>{{cite web | last=Graeber | first=Laurel | title=Guggenheim Finds Art in Poetry | website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 | date=April 27, 2022 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/27/arts/design/guggenheim-poetry.html | access-date=December 16, 2024}}</ref> Armstrong announced in mid-2022 that he planned to resign in 2023,<ref name=FinancialTimes2022>{{cite web |title=Guggenheim director Richard Armstrong: 'I'm calm about the whole future of museums' |website=Financial Times |date=July 8, 2022 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/3e13c600-0f35-421e-9d81-aa9cef7d70cd |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Julia |date=July 8, 2022 |title=Director of the Guggenheim to Step Down |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/arts/design/director-guggenheim-richard-armstrong-steps-down.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and he left the museum at the end of 2023.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cascone | first=Sarah | title=Inflation Hits Museums, as the Guggenheim Becomes the Latest New York Institution to Hike Prices | website=Artnet News | date=August 2, 2023 | url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guggenheim-raises-admission-to-30-dollars-2344866 | access-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Joachim |last=Pissarro |first2=Jennifer |last2=Stockman | title=Richard Armstrong with Joachim Pissarro & Jennifer Stockman | website=The Brooklyn Rail | date=July 29, 2024 | url=https://brooklynrail.org/2024/06/art/Richard-Armstrong-with-Joachim-Pissarro-Jennifer-Stockman/ | access-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref>

=== Westermann era ===
In June 2024, Mariët Westermann became the Guggenheim's first female director.<ref name=Tremayne>{{cite web |last=Tremayne-Pengelly |first=Alexandra |title=Cultural Comings and Goings: The Guggenheim’s New Director and More |website=Observer |date=November 21, 2023 |url=https://observer.com/2023/11/cultural-comings-goings-guggenheims-director/ |access-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=November 20, 2023 |title=Guggenheim Selects Director, First Woman to Lead the Museum Group |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/20/arts/design/guggenheim-director-westermann-abu-dhabi.html |access-date=November 20, 2023}}</ref> She had been the vice chancellor of [[New York University Abu Dhabi]] since 2019 and was its provost when it was formed in 2007 and was responsible for, among other things, its first climate action plan.<ref name=Tremayne/> She holds Master's and Ph.D. degrees in the History of Art from [[New York University Institute of Fine Arts]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Mariët Westermann |publisher=Institute of International Education |date=November 15, 2024 |url=https://www.iie.org/about/governance/board-of-trustees/dr-mariet-westermann |access-date=November 30, 2024}}</ref> Following unsuccessful attempts to steady the museum's finances by expanding the endowment, increasing ticket prices and reducing the number of exhibits, Westermann terminated about 7% of the museum's staff in early 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |last2=Burns |first2=Charlotte |date=2025-02-28 |title=Guggenheim Lays Off 20 Employees as Financial Challenges Persist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/arts/design/guggenheim-layoffs.html |access-date=2025-03-01 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cassady |first=Daniel |title=The Guggenheim Tightens Its Belt Again, Laying Off 20 Staffers |website=ARTnews.com |date=February 28, 2025 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/guggenheim-museum-layoffs-2025-1234734127 |access-date=March 1, 2025}}</ref>

== Architecture ==
Wright's design for the Guggenheim Museum incorporated geometric motifs, such as squares, circles, rectangles, triangles and [[Lozenge (shape)|lozenges]]. The [[massing]] contains two spiraling structures, the six-story main gallery to the south and the smaller "monitor" to the north, which are connected by a "bridge" on the second story. The ten-story rectangular annex, to the northeast, appears behind the spiraling structures as viewed from Central Park.<ref name=NPS3>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=3–4}}</ref>

The building embodies Wright's attempts "to render the inherent plasticity of organic forms in architecture".{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=340}} Wright's design included details inspired by nature,<ref name=Ballon/> although it also expresses his take on modernist architecture's rigid geometry.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=301}} Wright described a symbolic meaning to the building's shapes: "[T]hese geometric forms suggest certain human ideas, moods, sentiments – as for instance: the circle, infinity; the triangle, structural unity; the spiral, organic progress; the square, integrity."<ref>Rudenstine, Angelica Zander. ''The Guggenheim Museum Collection: Paintings, 1880–1945'', New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1976, p. 204</ref> Forms echo one another throughout: oval-shaped columns, for example, reiterate the geometry of the fountain. Circularity is the leitmotif, from the main gallery to the inlays in the museum's [[terrazzo]] floors.<ref name=Ballon/>

=== Exterior ===
Wright originally wanted to construct a marble facade,<ref name=Sennott572/><ref name="McCarter pp. 315, 318">{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|pp=315, 318|ps=.}}</ref> but builder George N. Cohen constructed the facade of [[Shotcrete#Shotcrete vs. gunite|gunite]], a type of sprayed concrete, as a cost-cutting measure.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-122" /> Wright's and Cohen's names appear on a tile placed along the building's exterior; this is likely the only time when Wright and a builder shared credit for a building's construction.<ref name="nyt-1991-08-122" /><ref name=Waldek2019>{{cite web |last=Waldek |first=Stefanie |date=November 11, 2019 |title=7 Things You Didn't Know About New York City's Guggenheim Museum |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/you-didnt-know-new-york-city-guggenheim-museum |access-date=October 7, 2022 |website=Architectural Digest}}</ref> Wright had also proposed a red-colored exterior, which was never realized.<ref name=McCarter310/><ref>Bianchini, Riccardo. [https://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/the-guggenheim-museum-an-american-revolution "The Guggenheim, an American revolution"], inexhibit.com, 2014, accessed July 5, 2014.</ref><ref name=Waldek2019/> Instead, the facade was covered in an ivory-colored coating of vinyl plastic,<ref name=NPS4>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=4}}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 1958">{{cite news |date=October 19, 1958 |title=Guggenheim Museum Gets a Plastic Coating |page=R11 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|114449638}}}}</ref> known as a "cocoon".<ref name="The New York Times 1958" /><ref name="Cohen 1958">{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=George N. |date=November 23, 1958 |title=All Concrete-- With a Glass Dome: The Guggenheim Museum: A Spiral Ramp Around a Big Inner Court |page=I1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1324046736}}}}</ref> The engineers involved in the original construction thought that the "cocoon" would not crack, so the facade was built without [[expansion joint]]s; they were wrong: the facade cracked in subsequent years.<ref name=AR2006Feb/> During subsequent renovations, conservators found that the facade was originally painted brownish yellow, which was covered with numerous coats of white or off-white paint over the years.<ref name=Waldek2019/>

The sidewalk in front of the museum acts as a [[Courtyard|forecourt]], with metal circles inset into its surface, similar in design to the floor inside the museum. Next to the sidewalk are curving parapets that surround planting beds, some of which are below ground level.<ref name=NYCL10>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=10}}</ref><ref name=NPS7>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> The planting beds originally contained shrubs, sycamore trees and other vegetation.<ref name="nyt-1959-05-27">{{Cite news |date=May 27, 1959 |title=Trees and Shrubs Soon to Flank Guggenheim Museum |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/05/27/archives/trees-and-shrubs-soon-to-flank-guggenheim-museum.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==== Original building ====
{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 250
| image1            = 5 Av Sep 2022 137.jpg
| caption1          = Main entrance on Fifth Avenue
| image2            = 5 Av Sep 2022 133.jpg
| caption2          = Ramp at the building's southwest corner
| image3            = 5 Av Sep 2022 145.jpg
| caption3          = Close-up of the monitor/Thannhauser Collection wing
}}

The museum's main entrance is at the center of the Fifth Avenue facade.<ref name=NYCL10 /><ref name=NPS6/> It consists of an aluminum-framed glass wall with several doors, recessed within a low foyer. A doorway directly in front of the entrance leads to the bookstore, while the museum galleries are accessed by doors to the right.<ref name=NYCL10/><ref name=NPS6>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=6}}</ref><ref name=McCarter311>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=311|ps=.}}</ref> Above the main entrance is a "bridge" connecting the main gallery and monitor building, which is supported by several lozenge-shaped [[Pier (architecture)|piers]].<ref name=NPS6/> The underside of the bridge contains recessed lighting that illuminates the main entrance.<ref name=NYCL10/><ref name=NPS6/> The main entrance was originally the entrance to a driveway that curved toward 89th Street, with separate entrances to the monitor and main gallery.<ref name=McCarter308/><ref name=NPS6/> The glass wall was installed after the driveway was closed in the 1970s, and the museum's bookstore was placed directly behind the wall.<ref name="NYCL pp. 12–13">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|pp=12–13}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=6–7}}</ref> To the south of the main entrance is a curved wall, which forms the base of the main gallery.<ref name="NYCL pp. 10–11">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|pp=10–11}}</ref> There is a ramp adjacent to this wall, which leads to the basement auditorium.<ref name=NPS7/><ref name="NYCL pp. 10–11" />

At the southeast corner of the museum, on 88th Street, is a rectangular structure, which contains no openings except for five circular portals at ground level.<ref name=NPS6/><ref name=NYCL11>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|p=11}}</ref> The structure contains the museum's cafe, which was part of Wright's original plans but was not developed until 1992. The second floor of the rectangular structure contains the High Gallery.<ref name=NPS6/> Immediately to the east, on 88th Street, is an aluminum service gate with circular designs.<ref name=NPS6/><ref name=NYCL11/>

The bridge, which carries the Guggenheim's second story, projects at the museum's southwest corner. The museum's name stretches along the bottom edge of the bridge's Fifth Avenue facade.<ref name=NPS7/> The main gallery rises above the southern part of the bridge; it consists of a "bowl"-shaped massing, with several concrete "bands" separated by recessed aluminum skylights.<ref name=NYCL11/> From the street, the building looks like a white ribbon curled into a cylindrical stack, wider at the top than the bottom, displaying nearly all curved surfaces. Its appearance is in sharp contrast to the typically rectangular Manhattan buildings that surround it, a fact relished by Wright, who claimed that his museum would make the nearby [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] "look like a Protestant barn".<ref name=time/> At the top of the "bowl" is a [[parapet]], which surrounds three smaller skylights, as well as the large twelve-sided dome atop the main gallery.<ref name=NYCL11/>

The northern part of the bridge contains a four-story wing, originally known as the monitor. Although the monitor's interior is cylindrical, its exterior contains different materials and shapes on each story.<ref name=NPS5/> The monitor's first two stories contain a round concrete facade,<ref name=NPS5>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=5}}</ref><ref name=AR190>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=190}}</ref> while the upper two stories are cantilevered outward from the monitor's core.<ref name=AR190/> The third story contains rectangular aluminum windows with semicircular panes at their tops.<ref name=NYCL11/> The fourth story contains a square terrace and additional windows.<ref name=NYCL11/><ref name=NPS5/> Above the fourth story is a [[fascia]] with lozenge patterns, as well as a hexagonal roof with an aluminum frame. The roof is interrupted by a lozenge-shaped shaft, which contains a stairway.<ref name=NYCL11/><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=5–6}}</ref>

==== Annex ====
A ten-story tower at the museum's northeastern corner, with offices, artist's studios and apartments, included in Wright's 1951 plan for the museum, was a rectangular structure, aligned on a north–south axis; it would have contained porches at each story on the northern and southern elevations.<ref name=NPS7/> Wright's original plan for the tower went unrealized, largely for financial reasons, until the 1990–1992 renovation and expansion.<ref name=GSwebsite>{{cite web |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |publisher=Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects |date=August 15, 2013 |url=https://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/2013/08/solomon-r-guggenheim-museum-2/ |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref><ref name=NPS8>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=8}}</ref><ref name=ArchDaily>Perez, Adelyn. [http://www.archdaily.com/60392/ad-classics-solomon-r-guggenheim-museum-frank-lloyd-wright/ "AD Classics: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum"], May 18, 2010. Retrieved March 21, 2012.</ref> Instead [[William Wesley Peters]] designed a shorter wing on the site in 1968, with two double-height floors. This wing was made of concrete, with [[relief]] carvings of squares and octagons on its facade, and housed the museum's library, storage space and the Thannhauser Gallery.<ref name=NYCL12/><ref name="NPS pp. 7–8">{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=7–8}}</ref> Its steel framework could accommodate the weight of six additional stories if it were expanded.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name="NPS pp. 7–8"/>

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates designed a 10-story annex that was built during the 1990s renovation.<ref name=GSwebsite/><ref name=NPS8/> The annex, measuring {{convert|32|ft}} wide and {{convert|135|ft}} tall, uses the 1968 wing's steel framework.<ref name=NPS8/> During the renovation, Gwathmey Siegel removed the 1968 concrete facade and replaced it with a limestone grid.<ref name=ArchDaily/><ref name=NPS8/> They analyzed Wright's original sketches when they designed the tower.<ref name="Kimball 1992"/><ref name=ArchDaily/>

=== Interior ===
The core part of Guggenheim's interior consists of the monitor section to the north, the larger main gallery to the south and a lecture hall beneath the main gallery.<ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=35–36}}</ref><ref name=AR186>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=186}}</ref> To the east of the main entrance is the bookstore, in the area that was originally part of the museum's driveway.<ref name="NYCLint12-NPS7">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=12}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> To the south of the main entrance is a small circular vestibule, which contains a floor with metal arcs and a low plaster ceiling with recessed lighting.<ref name=NYCLint12>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=12}}</ref> South of the main rotunda is a cafe, added during the 1990s renovation.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS7/>

The triangular service core, at the northeast corner of the main gallery, contains an elevator and a staircase.<ref name=NPS3/><ref name=McCarter315>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=315|ps=.}}</ref> The staircase wraps around the elevator, which is housed within a semicircular shaft;<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=AR188>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=188}}</ref> the core also contains restrooms and mechanical areas.<ref name=AR188/> According to author Robert McCarter, Wright had used "complete geometries" for the stairs and ramps because he wanted visitors to experience the museum on foot.<ref name=McCarter315/> Other rooms, such as the staff kitchen, were designed with curved equipment because of the interior's unusual design.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1961 |title=Museum Kitchen Built on a Curve; Designer Coped With Spiral Plan of Guggenheim in Installing Equipment |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/15/archives/museum-kitchen-built-on-a-curve-designer-coped-with-spiral-plan-of.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The museum's interior is generally painted white, and parts of the interior are repainted nearly every day.<ref name=Waldek2019/>

==== Main gallery ====
[[File:Solomon-R-Guggenheim-Museum-Levels.jpg|thumb|287px|left|The museum's main gallery]]
Wright designed the main gallery (also described as a rotunda) as an open-air atrium, surrounded by a helical ramp.<ref name=time/><ref name="NYCLint12-NPS4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=12}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> Wright's design differed from the conventional approach to museum layout, in which visitors pass through a series of interconnected rooms and retrace their steps when exiting.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=340}} Under Wright's plan, guests rode an elevator to the top of the building and descended the ramp, viewing the main gallery itself as a work of art.<ref name=ArchDaily/><ref name=McCarter315/> The ramp's design recalled a [[nautilus]] shell, with continuous spaces flowing one into another.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=301}}<ref>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|pp=310–311|ps=.}}</ref> The open rotunda allows guests to observe works on different levels simultaneously and interact with guests on other levels.<ref name=ArchDaily/> Structurally, the ramp acts like an enormous arch, preventing the columns in the main gallery from collapsing inward.<ref name=AR190/>

The main gallery has a beige terrazzo floor with inlaid metal circles.<ref name="McCarter pp. 315, 318"/><ref name=NYCLint13/> At ground level are wooden information and admissions desks, and windows face southeast toward Fifth Avenue and 88th Street.<ref name=NYCLint13>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|p=13}}</ref> The ramp, made of [[reinforced concrete]], ascends at a 5 percent slope<ref name=Stern816/><ref name=NPS4/> from ground level and rises one story, where it wraps around a planter and passes through a double-height archway.<ref name=NYCLint13/> It rises five additional stories before ending at the sixth floor,<ref name=Stern816/><ref name="NYCLint13-NPS4">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|p=13}}; {{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=4}}</ref> with a total length of {{convert|1416|ft}}.<ref name=Waldek2019/> Its width increases as it ascends,<ref name=AR185>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=185}}</ref> from {{convert|25|ft}} on the lowest level to {{convert|32|ft}} at the top.<ref name=NPS4/> The ramp protrudes into the northeastern corner of the atrium at each story, forming a rounded balcony.<ref name=NYCLint12/> There are connections to other galleries at the second and fourth stories, and to a triangular gallery at the sixth story.<ref name=NYCLint13/> The ramp has a low parapet along the atrium side,<ref name=McCarter318>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=318|ps=.}}</ref> measuring {{Convert|36|in}} high.<ref name=Waldek2019/>

The walls and ceilings are made of plaster.<ref name=NYCLint13/><ref name="McCarter318" /> To create the concrete walls, workers sprayed several layers of concrete onto plywood moldings, each layer being reinforced with steel.<ref name=NPS4/><ref name="Cohen 1958"/> Wright intended the low ceilings and slanted walls to provide a "more intimate environment" to display the artwork.<ref name=Pfeiffer7>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=7}}</ref> The walls are tilted at a 97-degree angle, and the ceilings measure {{Convert|9.5|ft}} tall.<ref name=Stern811/><ref name=NPS4/> [[Jaroslav Josef Polívka]] assisted Wright with the structural design, and he initially designed the gallery ramp without perimeter columns.<ref>[[Jaroslav Josef Polívka|Jaroslav J. Polívka]], "What it's Like to Work with Wright" in {{cite book |title=Engineering the Organic: The Partnership of Jaroslav J. Polivka and Frank Lloyd Wright |publisher=State University of New York |year=2000 |editor=Tejada, Susana |location=Buffalo |pages=34–35}}</ref> Later in the design, Wright added a dozen concrete ribs along the walls of the main gallery, which both provide structural reinforcement and divide the ramp into sections.<ref name="NYCLint12-NPS4" /><ref name=McCarter312>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=312|ps=.}}</ref> The ramp passes through 70 sections in total.<ref name=NPS4/> Although Wright wanted the paintings displayed as if they were on an easel,<ref name=time/><ref name=AR185/> paintings are mounted onto horizontal bars that protrude from the sloped wall.<ref name=Stern818>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=818}}</ref><ref name="Wood 1959">{{cite news |last=Wood |first=Francis |date=October 21, 1959 |title=Art Is Given a New Look At Guggenheim Museum |page=1 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|898250168}}}}</ref> There is limited space for sculptures within each bay,<ref name=time/> and wider paintings frequently span the center of the curved wall.<ref name="nyt-1977-06-02">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=June 2, 1977 |title=Design Notebook |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/02/archives/design-notebook-a-possible-truce-at-the-guggenheim.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The ramp was originally illuminated by [[clerestory]] windows along the perimeter of each level,<ref name=McCarter312/> which were sealed when the building was completed.<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=Stern818/> Each level of the ramp also contains recessed lighting on its ceiling.<ref name=McCarter315/><ref name=NYCLint12/> The domed skylight, named the Lawson-Johnston Family Oculus,<ref>{{cite press release |title=Guggenheim Museum Announces Naming of the Oculus, the Iconic Skylight over the Museum's Open Rotunda |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=June 22, 2023 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/press-release/guggenheim-museum-announces-naming-of-the-oculus-the-iconic-skylight-over-the-museums-open-rotunda |access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref> is around {{convert|95|ft}} high<ref name="Wood 1959" /><ref name="Mark 1959">{{Cite magazine |last=Mark |first=Phyllis |date=November 9, 1959 |title=Conflict Between Form and Function In Wright's New Guggenheim Museum |volume=42 |issue=41 |page=27 |id={{proQuest|1308964071}} |magazine=New Leader}}</ref> and is the same width as the atrium.<ref name=McCarter311/> Metal bars divide the skylight into numerous panes. Along the dome are six hairpin-shaped "spokes", which surround a circular glass panel and connect with the "ribs" along the gallery's perimeter.<ref name="NYCLint12" /><ref>{{cite magazine |date=Jul 1959 |title=Guggenheim Museum Spirals Toward Completion |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1959-07.pdf |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=40 |page= |pages=75, 77}}</ref> These spokes divide the skylight into twelve sections.<ref name=McCarter312/><ref name=NYCLint12/> The original plans called for the dome to be illuminated by 24 floodlights.<ref name="Cohen 1958"/> The clerestory windows and skylight were restored in 1992.<ref name=Sennott572/><ref name=McCarter319>{{harvnb|McCarter|1997|p=319|ps=.}}</ref>

==== Monitor section ====
The museum's "monitor" houses the Thannhauser Collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wright's Living Organism: The Evolution of the Guggenheim Museum |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=October 3, 2022 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/checklist/wrights-living-organism-the-evolution-of-the-guggenheim-museum |access-date=October 3, 2022}}</ref> Its galleries surround an atrium that is circular except for a stair hall at one end of the space.<ref name=NYCLint13/> The floors are supported by columns with lozenge-shaped cross-sections.<ref name=NYCLint13 /><ref name=AR189>{{harvnb|Architectural Record|1958|ps=.|p=189}}</ref> Like the main gallery, the monitor contains a triangular service core, although its core is placed at the center of the structure.<ref name=AR189/> The monitor was originally supposed to include apartments for Rebay and Guggenheim, but this area became offices and storage space.{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=317}} In 1965, the second floor of the monitor was renovated to display some of the museum's growing permanent collection.<ref name=NPS6/>{{sfn|Ballon|2009|pp=59–61}} Part of the fourth floor was similarly converted in 1980.<ref name=NPS6/> With the restoration of the museum in the early 1990s, the second through fourth floors were converted entirely to exhibition space and renamed the Thannhauser Building.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS6/>{{sfn|Ballon|2009|pp=59–61}}

==== Gail May Engelberg Center for Arts Education ====
[[File:Gugenheim theater from back jeh.jpg|thumb|Peter B. Lewis Theater]]
The Gail May Engelberg Center for Arts Education, completed in 2001, covers {{convert|8200|sqft}} on the lower level of the museum, below the main gallery.<ref name=Tu2002/> It was a gift of the [[Mortimer Sackler|Mortimer D. Sackler]] family and was originally named for them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Weber |first1=Bruce |date=March 31, 2010 |title=Mortimer D. Sackler, Arts Patron, Dies at 93 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/business/01sackler.html?_r=0 |access-date=July 17, 2014 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=December 12, 1995 |title=Museum gets gift for arts education |page=2E |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |agency=New York Times News Service |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1683&dat=19951212&id=6mkaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6896,926560 |access-date=August 22, 2014 |postscript=none}}; and {{cite web |title=Kim Kanatani Will Occupy Newly Created Gail Engelberg Chair in Education |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2001/688-march-12-new-director-of-education |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726183308/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2001/688-march-12-new-director-of-education |archive-date=July 26, 2014 |access-date=July 17, 2014 |website=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |format=Press release}}</ref> The facility provides classes and lectures about the visual and performing arts and opportunities to interact with the museum's collections and special exhibitions through its labs, exhibition spaces, conference rooms and 266-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater.<ref name=Sackler>[http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center "Sackler Center for Arts Education"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209061825/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/education/sackler-center|date=February 9, 2014}}, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Retrieved March 21, 2012.</ref><ref name=Tu2002/> Following criticism over the Sackler family's involvement in the [[opioid epidemic in the United States]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Small |first=Zachary |date=May 10, 2022 |title=Guggenheim Removes Sackler Name Over Ties to Opioid Crisis |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/arts/design/guggenheim-sackler-name-opioids.html |access-date=October 3, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=May 10, 2022 |title=Guggenheim Museum Quietly Removes Sackler Name |url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a39957945/guggenheim-museum-removes-sackler-name/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=Town & Country}}</ref> the center was renamed in 2022 for museum trustee Gail May Engelberg,<ref name=Block2022>{{cite web |last=Block |first=Fang |title=The Guggenheim's Center for Arts Education Renamed After a $15 Million Donation |website=Barron's |date=July 21, 2022 |url=https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-guggenheims-center-for-arts-education-renamed-after-a-15-million-donation-01658439391 |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref> who along with her husband Alfred Engelberg had donated $15 million to the museum.<ref name=Donnelly2022>{{cite web |last=Donnelly |first=Shannon |title=Palm Beach philanthropy: Gail and Alfred Engelberg commit $15 million to Guggenheim |website=Palm Beach Daily News |date=August 10, 2022 |url=https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/story/news/2022/08/10/gail-may-engelberg-center-arts-education-and-formal-dedication-and-naming-ceremony-take-place-novemb/10214105002/ |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref>

The basement space looks out onto a sloped driveway outside the southwest corner of the museum.<ref name=AR186/> The Peter B. Lewis Theater is directly beneath the main gallery and contains two levels of seating: an orchestra level and a balcony. There is a coatroom at the balcony level, separated from the balcony seats by a metal partition. The southeast corner of the orchestra level contains a raised wooden stage. The theater's walls contain embedded piers, as well as semicircular window openings.<ref name="NYCL (Interior) pp. 13–14" /> The plaster ceiling contains recessed [[cove lighting]].<ref name=AR188/><ref name="NYCL (Interior) pp. 13–14">{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990|ps=.|pp=13–14}}</ref>  When the theater was built, it could be accessed directly from the triangular service core, as well as via the driveway outside the museum.<ref name=AR188/>

==== Annex galleries ====
The 89th Street annex contains {{convert|10290|ft2}} of additional exhibition space.<ref name="McGuigan 1992"/> There are four exhibition galleries with flat walls that are "more appropriate for the display of art".<ref name=ArchDaily/><ref name=GSwebsite/> Each of the gallery levels,<ref name=PA1992Aug>{{cite magazine |date=August 1992 |title=Guggenheim Reopens, Expanded and Renovated |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1992-08.PDF |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=73 |pages=13–14}}</ref> are double-height spaces.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS8/> A loading dock is below the galleries, while two office stories and a mechanical floor are above.<ref name=PA1992Aug/> A steel-and-glass lobby connects the annex to the monitor's ground level, and ramps and passageways connect with the monitor's three upper stories.<ref name=PA1992Aug/> The annex is linked to the main gallery's stair tower at the fourth, fifth and seventh stories.<ref name=Pfeiffer37/><ref name=NPS8/> It also connects to rooftop terraces above the monitor and main gallery.<ref name="McGuigan 1992" /><ref name=PA1992Aug/>

=== Landmark designations ===
The [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC) designated the museum building and its interior as New York City landmarks on August 14, 1990,<ref name="nyt-1990-08-19">{{Cite news |date=August 19, 1990 |title=Guggenheim Museum Is Designated a Landmark |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/19/nyregion/guggenheim-museum-is-designated-a-landmark.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Mangaliman |first=Jessie |date=August 17, 1990 |title=Aye Given for Museum as Landmark |pages=29 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110707735/aye-given-for-museum-as-landmarkjessie/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> two years after opponents of the annex's construction had asked the commission to consider such a designation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Joan |date=September 1, 1988 |title=It'll be hard look at Guggenheim as a landmark |pages=577 |work=New York Daily News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110707495/itll-be-hard-look-at-guggenheim-as-a/ |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> At the time, the Guggenheim was one of the youngest buildings to have city landmark status, having been completed 31 years earlier.<ref name=Waldek2019/> When the LPC enlarged its [[Carnegie Hill Historic District]] in 1993,<ref name="Diamonstein-Spielvogel 2011 p. 683">{{cite landmarks |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o8ym5NeiylkC&pg=PA683 683]}}</ref><ref name="Dunlap 1994 i108">{{cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=January 9, 1994 |title=Postings: Commission Expands, Carnegie Hall Historic Zone; Landmark Lobby, Larger District |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/09/realestate/postings-commission-expands-carnegie-hall-historic-zone-landmark-lobby-larger.html |access-date=January 26, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the Guggenheim Museum was included in the expanded district.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1834.pdf |title=Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District |date=December 21, 1993 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |access-date=January 26, 2024 |pages=72–73}}</ref>

The museum was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]]  (NRHP) on May 19, 2005,<ref name=nris/> and was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]] on October 6, 2008.<ref name=NHL>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20081017.HTM "National Register of Historic Places; New Listings October 6 – October 10, 2008"], NPS.gov, October 17, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2009.</ref> [[UNESCO]] added eight properties, including the Guggenheim, to the [[World Heritage List]] in July 2019 under the title "[[The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1496 |access-date=July 7, 2019 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tareen |first=Sophia |date=July 8, 2019 |title=Guggenheim Museum Added to UNESCO World Heritage List |work=NBC New York |url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Guggenheim-Museum-Added-to-UNESCO-World-Heritage-List--512323791.html |access-date=July 8, 2019}}</ref>

== Collection ==
The Guggenheim has about 8,000 works in its collection {{as of|2022|lc=y}}.<ref name="wsj-2011-01-21">{{Cite news |last=Orden |first=Erica |date=January 21, 2011 |title=Where Museums Hide Treasures |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704590704576092164169606174 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref name=CollectionOnline/> About 1,700 are part of its online collection.<ref name=CollectionOnline>{{cite web |title=Collection Online |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/collection-online |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation}}</ref> The museum building has a relatively small capacity; according to ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', following the 1992 renovation, the Guggenheim could show "upward of 6%" of its then 5,000-piece collection.<ref name="Kimball 1992"/> Other pieces are kept in the museum's storeroom.<ref name="McGill w240">{{cite web |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=October 18, 1987 |title=The Region; Museums Bringing a Mass of Art Out of Hiding |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/18/weekinreview/the-region-museums-bringing-a-mass-of-art-out-of-hiding.html |access-date=January 2, 2025 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> In contrast to other visual-art museums, the Guggenheim does not divide its collection into departments.<ref name="About the Collection">{{cite web |date=October 6, 2022 |title=About the Collection |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/about-the-collection |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation}}</ref> The permanent collection is typically displayed in the side galleries and annexes, while the main gallery is used for special exhibitions.<ref name="n162066281">{{Cite news |last=Burghart |first=Tara |date=2003-07-19 |title=Hidden mural unveiled at museum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/anderson-independent-mail-hidden-mural-u/162066281/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=Anderson Independent-Mail |page=2E |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

The Guggenheim shares its collection with the [[Peggy Guggenheim Collection]] in Venice, Italy, and [[Guggenheim Museum Bilbao]], Spain.<ref name="About the Collection" /> It has also loaned objects to [[Guggenheim Abu Dhabi]] for a preview exhibit.<ref name="Vogel p555">{{cite web |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=June 5, 2014 |title=Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Plans a Preview Show |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/arts/design/guggenheim-abu-dhabi-plans-a-preview-show.html |access-date=December 13, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> After [[Peggy Guggenheim]]'s death in 1979, the Guggenheim Foundation began to operate the Venice museum, and Guggenheim New York began to exhibit [[Abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]], [[Cubism|cubist]] and [[Surrealism|surrealist]] art from both the Venice and New York museums together.{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=26}}

=== Personal collections ===
The Guggenheim Museum has acquired private collections throughout its history, including those of Guggenheim, [[Karl Nierendorf]], [[Katherine Sophie Dreier]], Thannhauser, Rebay, [[Giuseppe Panza]], Mapplethorpe and the Bohen Foundation.<ref>{{harvnb|Loebl|2002|pp=283–284|ps=.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Budick |first=Ariella |date=May 10, 2017 |title=Visionaries at the Guggenheim, New York: brimming with masterpieces |url=https://www.ft.com/content/ed291c60-f471-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608 |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=Financial Times}}</ref> Its earliest works include modernists such as [[Rudolf Bauer (artist)|Rudolf Bauer]], Rebay, Kandinsky, [[Piet Mondrian]], [[Marc Chagall]], [[Robert Delaunay]], [[Fernand Léger]], [[Amedeo Modigliani]] and [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref name="cork" /> Parts of the original collection have been sold over the years. In 2007, 620 of the original works were designated part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection,<ref name="nyt-2007-05-11" /> with works by over 60 artists,<ref name="nyt-2007-05-11">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=May 11, 2007 |title=Guggenheim Foundation Takes Steps to Preserve Its Artistic Legacy |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/11/arts/design/11voge.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> including more than 150 by Kandinsky.<ref name="Guggenheim Founding Collection">{{cite web |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/special_collection/solomon-r-guggenheim-founding-collection |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation}}</ref> The founding collection contains several pieces by [[Albert Gleizes]], including ''[[Brooklyn Bridge (Gleizes)|Brooklyn Bridge]]'', ''[[Composition for "Jazz"]]'' and ''[[Portrait of an Army Doctor]]''.<ref name="Guggenheim Founding Collection" /> Pieces such as Chagall's ''[[Green Violinist]]'',<ref name="n162066731">{{Cite news |last=Huntington |first=Richard |date=1992-12-04 |title=The exuberant fiddler returns |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-the-exuberant-fiddler-r/162066731/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The Buffalo News |pages=B13, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-chagall-murals-shelved/162066607/ B14]}}</ref> [[Franz Marc]]'s ''[[Yellow Cow]]'',<ref name="n162067937">{{Cite news |last=Levin |first=Ann |date=2011-02-09 |title=Guggenheim returns to its roots, traces collection |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/democrat-and-chronicle-guggenheim-return/162067937/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=Democrat and Chronicle |pages=6C |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> [[Jean Metzinger]]'s ''[[Woman with a Fan (Metzinger, 1912)|Woman with a Fan]]'',<ref name="n162068120">{{Cite news |last=Kissel |first=Howard |date=2001-02-09 |title=The Guggenheim Goes Global |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-guggenheim-goes-globalho/162068120/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=New York Daily News |pages=68, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-guggenheim-goes-global/162068158/ 69]}}</ref> and Picasso's ''[[The Accordionist]]''<ref name="n162068271" /> are also part of the founding collection.<ref name="Guggenheim Founding Collection" /> 

In 1948, the Museum of Non-Objective Art acquired Nierendorf's 730 objects, notably [[German expressionist]] paintings.<ref name=NierendorfEstate/><ref name=Calnek/> The Guggenheim still had 121 works from the Nierendorf collection in the 1990s,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Russell |first=John |date=June 18, 1993 |title=Review/Art; Paul Klee as a Master Of Line Over Color |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/18/arts/review-art-paul-klee-as-a-master-of-line-over-color.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> comprising a broad spectrum of [[expressionist]] and [[surrealist]] works, including paintings by [[Paul Klee]], [[Oskar Kokoschka]] and [[Joan Miró]].<ref name=Calnek/><ref name=cork/><ref name=NierendorfEstate>{{cite web |title=Karl Nierendorf Estate |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/special_collection/karl-nierendorf-estate |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> In 1953, the Guggenheim acquired 28 pieces from Dreier's collection,{{Efn|Dreier was one of Rebay's colleagues and a founder of modern-art organization [[Société Anonyme (art)|Société Anonyme]].<ref name=cork/>}} including works by [[Alexander Archipenko]], [[Constantin Brâncuși]], [[Alexander Calder]], [[Marcel Duchamp]], [[Juan Gris]], [[El Lissitzky]], Mondrian and [[Kurt Schwitters]].<ref name=cork/>

The Thannhauser Collection, acquired in 1963, initially consisted of 73 works,<ref name="Spiegler 1963"/><ref name="nyt-1963-10-24" /> largely in the [[Impressionist]], [[Post-Impressionist]] and French modern styles,<ref name=Loebl284>{{harvnb|Loebl|2002|p=284|ps=.}}</ref> including pieces by [[Paul Gauguin]], [[Édouard Manet]], [[Camille Pissarro]], [[Vincent van Gogh]] and 32 works by Picasso.<ref name=cork/><ref>[http://research.frick.org/directoryweb/browserecord.php?-action=browse&-recid=7357 "Thannhauser, Justin K.:] The [[Frick Collection]]", ''Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America''. Retrieved March 13, 2012.</ref> Justin Thannhauser's widow Hilde donated additional pieces to the Thannhauser Collection in 1981 and 1991,{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=22}} including Manet's ''[[Portrait of Countess Albazzi]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VazpAAAAMAAJ |title=Thannhauser: The Thannhauser Collection of the Guggenheim Museum |last2=Drutt |first2=Matthew |publisher=Guggenheim Museum |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8109-6920-9 |page=134}}</ref>

Rebay also bequeathed a portion of her personal collection to the foundation, including works by Kandinsky, Klee, Calder, Gleizes, Mondrian and Schwitters.<ref name="cork" /> The Guggenheim received the pieces in 1971, four years after her death,<ref name="About the Collection" /> because of a prolonged lawsuit.<ref name="nyt-1971-05-15" /> In 1990 the museum acquired the collection of Giovanna and Giuseppe Panza.<ref name="nyt-1990-02-16">{{Cite news |last=Yarrow |first=Andrew L. |date=February 16, 1990 |title=Guggenheim Is Acquiring Over 200 Minimalist Works |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/16/arts/guggenheim-is-acquiring-over-200-minimalist-works.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="Fleeson 1990">{{Cite news |last=Fleeson |first=Lucinda |date=February 17, 1990 |title=Count's American art going to Guggenheim |pages=49 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110808366/counts-american-art-going-to/ |access-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref> This includes examples of [[Minimalist art|minimalist]] sculptures by [[Carl Andre]], [[Dan Flavin]] and [[Donald Judd]]; minimalist paintings by [[Robert Mangold]], [[Brice Marden]] and [[Robert Ryman]]; and an array of [[Postminimalism|postminimal]], [[Conceptual art|conceptual]] and perceptual art by [[Robert Morris (artist)|Robert Morris]], [[Richard Serra]], [[James Turrell]], [[Lawrence Weiner]] and others, notably American examples of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="Glueck" /><ref name="Fleeson 1990" /> When the Panza Collection was acquired, some of the pieces had not been sculpted, existing only as sketches.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=June 12, 1990 |title=Millions for Art, a Lot of It Unfinished |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/12/arts/millions-for-art-a-lot-of-it-unfinished.html |access-date=January 2, 2025 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1992, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation gave 200 of Mapplethorpe's best photographs to the foundation,<ref name="nyt-1992-12-04" /><ref name="Wallach 1992"/> marking the museum's first major acquisition of 20th-century photography.{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=26}} The works spanned his entire output, from his early collages, [[Polaroid camera|Polaroids]], portraits of celebrities, self-portraits, male and female nudes, flowers and statues; it also featured mixed-media constructions and included his well-known 1998 ''Self-Portrait''. The acquisition initiated the foundation's photography exhibition program.<ref name=cork/> In 2001, the foundation received a gift of the collection of the Bohen Foundation, which, for two decades, commissioned new works of art with an emphasis on film, video, photography and new media. It comprises around 275 works by 45 artists,<ref name="nyt-2001-12-21">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=December 21, 2001 |title=Inside Art |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/21/arts/inside-art.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> including [[Pierre Huyghe]] and [[Sophie Calle]].<ref name=artdaily/> In 2022, the Guggenheim and the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago]], jointly received 100 works from the [[Dimitris Daskalopoulos|D. Daskalopoulos]] Collection.<ref name="Chow 2022">{{cite web |last=Chow |first=Vivienne |title=Mega-Collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos Gifts Over 350 Artworks to Four Museums in Three Countries |website=Artnet News |date=April 13, 2022 |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dimitris-daskalopoulos-gifts-over-350-artworks-to-four-museums-2098450 |access-date=November 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=April 13, 2022 |title=Daskalopoulos's great giveaway: Greek collector donates 350 works to Tate, Guggenheim, MCA Chicago and EMST in Athens |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/04/13/daskalopouloss-great-giveawaygreek-collector-donates-350-works-to-tate-guggenheim-mca-chicago-and-emst-in-athens |access-date=November 9, 2022 |website=The Art Newspaper}}</ref>

=== Other notable works ===
Under Sweeney's tenure, in the 1950s, the Guggenheim acquired Brâncuși's ''Adam and Eve'' (1921)<ref name="Calnek" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Roberta |date=June 18, 2004 |title=Art Review; Cool Warmth, Buoyant Stone, Majestic Wood |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/arts/art-review-cool-warmth-buoyant-stone-majestic-wood.html |access-date=December 16, 2024 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and works by other modernist sculptors such as [[Joseph Csaky]], [[Jean Arp]], Calder, [[Alberto Giacometti]] and [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]].<ref name=Calnek/><ref name="NYT 1958 d716">{{cite news |last=Devree |first=Howard |date=May 18, 1958 |title=Modern Masters; Museum Acquisitions -Utrillo's Family |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/05/18/archives/modern-masters-museum-acquisitions-utrillos-family.html |access-date=December 16, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Sweeney reached beyond the 20th century to acquire [[Paul Cézanne]]'s ''Man with Crossed Arms'' ({{circa|1899}})<ref name=Calnek/> and works by [[David Hayes (sculptor)|David Hayes]], [[Willem de Kooning]] and [[Jackson Pollock]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061001061622/http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/global_gugg/global_gugg_bottom_index.html ''The Global Guggenheim''], The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Publications. Retrieved March 8, 2012.</ref> The museum also acquired works by such artists as [[Aristide Maillol]], [[Jean Messagier]], [[Fritz Hundertwasser]] and [[Eduardo Paolozzi]], several Giacometti drawings and sculptures, a cubist drawing by Picasso and some [[Henri-Georges Adam]] engravings.<ref name="NYT 1958 d716" /> In the 1960s, among Messer's acquisitions were [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]]'s triptych ''[[Three Studies for a Crucifixion]]'' and [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]]'s sculpture ''[[Cubi|Cubi XXVII]]''.{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=20}} and pieces by Brâncuși, Calder, Giacometti, Klee, Léger, [[Joan Miró]], [[Egon Schiele]] and [[František Kupka]].{{sfn|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|1993|p=20}}

Originally, the Guggenheim Museum's collection did not include any [[figurative art]] because of the museum's focus on "non-objective painting",<ref name="Russell e133">{{cite web|first=John|last=Russell | title=The Guggenheim Collection Celebrates Itself and Its Art | website=The New York Times | date=November 13, 1987 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/13/arts/the-guggenheim-collection-celebrates-itself-and-its-art.html | access-date=January 2, 2025}}</ref> but it later expanded to include a range of figurative pieces, such as a portrait of art critic [[Felix Feneon]] by [[Édouard Vuillard]],<ref name="Russell e133"/><ref name=n162062245>{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Hilton |date=1971-06-20 |title=Collections Impose Identity|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-collections-impose-ide/162062245/|access-date=2025-01-02|work=The Baltimore Sun|pages=54}}</ref> ''Three Studies for a Crucifixion'' and Miró's painting ''[[The Tilled Field]]''.<ref name="McGill w240" /><ref name="n162061782">{{Cite news |last=Halperen |first=Max |date=1992-09-06 |title=Uptown, downtown: a tale of two Guggenheims|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-and-observer-uptown-downtown/162061782/|access-date=2025-01-02 |work=The News and Observer|pages=93}}</ref> Others include Picasso's ''[[Le Moulin de la Galette (Picasso)|Le Moulin de la Galette]]'',<ref>{{cite web | first=Jacqui |last=Palumbo | first2=Lianne |last2=Kolirin | title=Museum uncovers little dog hidden in early Picasso painting | website=CNN | date=May 16, 2023 | url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/hidden-dog-picasso-scli-intl/index.html | access-date=January 3, 2025}}</ref> ''Mandolin and Guitar'', ''Woman With Yellow Hair'' and ''[[Woman Ironing]]'';<ref name="n1620673772"/> Julian Schnabel's ''[[The Student of Prague (painting)|The Student of Prague]]'';<ref>{{cite book | author=College Art Association of America | title=Art Journal | publisher=College Art Association of America. | series=Art Journal | issue=v. 50 | year=1960 | issn=0004-3249 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JD5UAAAAMAAJ | access-date=January 3, 2025 }}</ref> [[Roy Lichtenstein]]'s ''[[Grrrrrrrrrrr!!]]''<ref>{{cite book | title=ARTnews | publisher=ARTnews Associates | issue=v. 97, nos. 1-6 | year=1998 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-l5UAAAAMAAJ | access-date=January 3, 2025 | page=72}}</ref> and Kandinsky's ''[[Composition VII|Study for Composition II]]'' and ''Blue Mountain''.<ref name="n1620673772">{{Cite news |last=Daxland |first=John |date=1980-08-01 |title=At Guggenheim |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-at-guggenheimjohn-daxland/162067377/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=New York Daily News |pages=105}}</ref>
<!-- 

Other figurative works include:
* Renoir ''[[Nature morte: fleurs]]'' - ''[[Woman with Parakeet (Renoir)|Woman with Parakeet]]''
* van Gogh ''[[Head of a Girl]]'' - ''[[Landscape with Snow]]''

Non-figurative:
* Delaunay ''[[Windows Open Simultaneously 1st Part, 3rd Motif]]''
* Rothko ''[[Untitled (Black on Grey)]]''
-->

=== Selected works in the collection ===
<gallery widths="180" heights="180">
File:Paul Cézanne, c.1899, Homme aux bras croisés (Man With Crossed Arms), oil on canvas, 92 x 72.7 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Paul Cézanne]], {{circa|1899}}, ''Homme aux bras croisés'' (''Man With Crossed Arms''), oil on canvas, 92 × 72.7&nbsp;cm
File:Georges Braque, 1909 (September), Violin and Palette (Violon et palette, Dans l'atelier), oil on canvas, 91.7 x 42.8 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Georges Braque]], 1909, ''Violin and Palette'' (''Violon et palette, Dans l'atelier''), oil on canvas, 91.7 × 42.8&nbsp;cm
File:Wassily Kandinsky, 1910, Landscape with Factory Chimney, oil on canvas, 66.2 x 82 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Wassily Kandinsky]], 1910, ''Landscape with Factory Chimney'', oil on canvas, 66.2 × 82&nbsp;cm
File:Franz Marc-The Yellow Cow-1911.jpg|[[Franz Marc]], 1911, ''The Yellow Cow'', oil on canvas, 140.5 × 189.2&nbsp;cm
File:Juan Gris, 1911, Maisons à Paris (Houses in Paris), oil on canvas, 52.4 x 34.2 cm, Guggenheim Museum.jpg|Juan Gris, 1911, ''Maisons à Paris'' (''Houses in Paris''), 1911, oil on canvas, 52.4 × 34.2&nbsp;cm
File:Fernand Léger, 1911-1912, Les Fumeurs (The Smokers), oil on canvas, 129.2 x 96.5 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York..jpg|[[Fernand Léger]], 1911–12, ''Les Fumeurs (The Smokers)'', oil on canvas, 129.2 × 96.5&nbsp;cm
File:Jean Metzinger, 1912, Femme à l'Éventail (Woman with a Fan), oil on canvas, 90.7 x 64.2 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Jean Metzinger]], 1912, [[Femme à l'Éventail|''Femme à l'Éventail'' (''Woman with a Fan'')]], oil on canvas, 90.7 × 64.2&nbsp;cm
File:Fernand Léger, 1912-13, Nude Model in the Studio (Le modèle nu dans l'atelier), oil on burlap, 128.6 x 95.9 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim.jpg|[[Fernand Léger]], 1912–13, ''Nude Model in the Studio (Le modèle nu dans l'atelier)'', oil on burlap, 128.6 × 95.9&nbsp;cm
File:Alexander Archipenko, 1913, Pierrot-carrousel, painted plaster, 61 × 48.6 × 34 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Reproduced in Archipenko-Album, 1921.jpg|[[Alexander Archipenko]], 1913, ''Pierrot-carrousel'', painted plaster, 61 × 48.6 × 34&nbsp;cm
File:Marc Chagall, 1913, Paris par la fenêtre (Paris Through the Window), oil on canvas, 136 x 141.9 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.jpg|Marc Chagall, 1913, ''Paris par la fenêtre'' (''Paris Through the Window''), oil on canvas, 136 × 141.9&nbsp;cm
File:GUGG The Horse.jpg|[[Raymond Duchamp-Villon]], 1914 (cast {{circa|1930}}), ''Le cheval'' (''The Horse''), bronze, 43.6 × 41&nbsp;cm
File:Albert Gleizes, 1914-15, Portrait of an Army Doctor (Portrait d'un médecin militaire), oil on canvas, 119.8 x 95.1 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Albert Gleizes]], 1914–15, [[Portrait of an Army Doctor|''Portrait of an Army Doctor'' ('''Portrait d'un médecin militaire'')]], oil on canvas, 119.8 × 95.1&nbsp;cm
File:Albert Gleizes, 1915, Brooklyn Bridge, oil and gouache on canvas, 102 x 102 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.jpg|Albert Gleizes, 1915, [[Brooklyn Bridge (Gleizes)|''Brooklyn Bridge'' (''Pont de Brooklyn'')]], oil and gouache on canvas, 102 × 102&nbsp;cm&nbsp;cm
File:Juan Gris, 1917, Compotier et nappe à carreaux, oil on wood panel, 80.6 x 53.9 cm, Guggenheim Museum.jpg|Juan Gris, 1917, ''Compotier et nappe à carreaux'' (''Fruit Dish on a Checkered Tablecloth''), oil on wood panel, 80.6 × 53.9&nbsp;cm
File:Modigliani nude sdraiato.jpg|[[Amedeo Modigliani]], 1917, ''Nude (Nu)'', oil on canvas, 73 × 116.7&nbsp;cm
File:Doesburg.jpg|[[Theo van Doesburg]], 1918, ''Composition XI'', oil on canvas, 57 × 101&nbsp;cm
File:Paul Klee, 1922, Red Balloon, oil on chalk-primed gauze, mounted on board, 31.7 x 31.1 cm, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.jpg|[[Paul Klee]], 1922, ''Red Balloon'' (''Roter Ballon''), oil on chalk-primed gauze, mounted on board, 31.7 × 31.1&nbsp;cm
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1923 - Composition 8, huile sur toile, 140 cm x 201 cm, Musée Guggenheim, New York.jpg|[[Wassily Kandinsky]], 1923, ''Composition 8'', oil on canvas, 140 x 201&nbsp;cm
</gallery>

== Restitution claims ==
In 2007, the heirs of Berlin banker [[Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy]] requested the restitution of the Picasso painting "[[Le Moulin de la Galette (Picasso)|Le Moulin de la Galette]]" (1900), which they claimed he had sold under duress by the Nazis.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lufkin |first=Martha |title=MoMA and Guggenheim file joint appeal against restitution effort |website=The Art Newspaper |date=January 1, 2008 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2008/01/01/moma-and-guggenheim-file-joint-appeal-against-restitution-effort |access-date=December 17, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=N.Y. museums fight to keep 2 Picassos |website=[[Lewiston Sun Journal]] |date=December 9, 2007 |url=https://www.sunjournal.com/2007/12/09/ny-museums-fight-keep-2-picassos |access-date=December 17, 2023}}</ref> The museum and the heirs settled the lawsuit in 2009.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=February 2, 2009 |title=Museums and Heirs Settle Dispute Over Picasso |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/arts/design/03arts-MUSEUMSHEIRS_BRF.html |access-date=December 17, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The presiding judge, Jed Rakoff, criticized the secrecy of the accord.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=February 2, 2009 |title=Picasso paintings to remain in New York museums following settlement |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/feb/02/picasso-guggenheim-moma-new-york-nazi |access-date=December 17, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weiser |first=Benjamin |date=March 24, 2009 |title=Heirs' Secrecy in Settlement Over Picassos Baffles Judge |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/nyregion/24secrecy.html |access-date=December 17, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2018, the museum returned the [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner]] painting ''Artillerymen'' (1915) to the heirs of [[Alfred Flechtheim]], who had owned the painting before it fell into the hands of a Nazi collector in 1938.<ref>{{cite web |last=Kenney |first=Nancy |title=Guggenheim to return Kirchner painting to heirs of Jewish dealer |website=The Art Newspaper |date=October 4, 2018 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/10/04/guggenheim-to-return-kirchner-painting-to-heirs-of-jewish-dealer |access-date=December 17, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=La Guggenheim Foundation restitue un Kirchner extorqué par les nazis |url=https://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/patrimoine/la-guggenheim-foundation-restitue-un-kirchner-extorque-par-les-nazis-140105 |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=Le Journal Des Arts |language=fr}}</ref>

In 2023, the heirs of Karl and Rosie Adler sued the Guggenheim to claim the restitution of a Picasso painting, ''Woman Ironing'' (''[[Woman Ironing|La repasseuse]])'' (1904), which the Adlers sold to [[Justin Thannhauser]] in 1938, allegedly for a fraction of its value, to escape [[the Holocaust]]. They alleged that Thannhauser knowingly purchased the painting, and art from other Jews on the run, profiting unfairly from their distress.<ref>{{cite web |last=Owoseje |first=Toyin |title=A Jewish family fleeing the Nazis sold a Picasso in 1938. Their heirs want it back |website=CNN |date=January 25, 2023 |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/guggenheim-picasso-painting-intl-scli/index.html |access-date=December 17, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 23, 2023 |title=Jewish collectors' heirs sue the Guggenheim for return of Blue Period Picasso |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/23/picasso-blue-period-painting-jewish-collectors-heirs-sue-guggenheim |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=The Art Newspaper}}</ref> The museum says they contacted the Adler family before acquiring the painting as a part of Thannhauser's bequest of his art collection in 1976, and at that time Karl Adler did not object.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stevens |first=Matt |date=January 29, 2023 |title=Jewish Heirs Sue Guggenheim Over Ownership of a Prized Picasso |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/arts/guggenheim-picasso-lawsuit-jewish-heirs.html |access-date=December 17, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>Edelson, Daniel. [https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjkryjunj "A Jewish family sues the Guggenheim for a Picasso claimed sold under duress during Nazi rule"], YNet, January 31, 2023</ref>

The Guggenheim lists 289 artworks on the Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal (NEPIP) but does not publish provenance for its collection.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 28, 2023 |title=A New York Law Requires Museums to Label Nazi-Looted Art. But Are They Following It? |url=https://observer.com/2023/02/a-new-york-law-requires-museums-to-label-nazi-looted-art-but-are-they-following-it/ |access-date=January 19, 2024 |website=Observer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal |url=http://www.nepip.org/public/search/itemsearch.cfm?action=itmresults&menu_type=search&museum_id=50873 |access-date=January 19, 2024 |website=www.nepip.org}}</ref>

==Governance and staff==
The [[Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation]] operates and owns the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.<ref name=Foundation>{{cite web |title=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=October 7, 2022 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/foundation |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref> The foundation's art and museum committee is responsible for proposing acquisitions and [[deaccessioning|deaccessions]] from the foundation's collection, while the foundation's board of trustees determines whether to enact the art and museum committee's proposals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Collections Management Policy Approved by the Board of Trustees on May 27, 2020 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/guggenheim-collections-management-policy-20200527.pdf |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |date=May 27, 2020 |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1–3}}</ref> [[J. Tomilson Hill]] has served as the board's chair since 2021,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=October 4, 2021 |title=Guggenheim Gets New Chairman, and Second Ever Black Female Trustee |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/arts/design/guggenheim-board-tomilson-hill-claudia-rankine.html |access-date=October 7, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> while Marcy Withington has been the foundation's chief financial officer since 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Marcy Withington |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |date=October 25, 2022 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/staff/marcy-withington |access-date=October 25, 2022}}</ref> The museum employed 315 full-time and part-time staff members {{as of|2020|alt=in 2020}}.<ref name=nyt-2020-04-10>{{Cite news |last=Moynihan |first=Colin |date=April 10, 2020 |title=Guggenheim, Facing $10 Million Shortfall, Turns to Furloughs and Pay Cuts |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/arts/guggenheim-furloughs-staff.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Kenney |first=Nancy |title=Guggenheim furloughs 92 employees in New York |website=The Art Newspaper |date=April 10, 2020 |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/04/10/guggenheim-furloughs-92-employees-in-new-york |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref>

== Reception and commentary ==

=== Contemporary views ===
Even before the building opened, the design polarized architecture critics<ref name=time/><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 1959 |title=Controversial Guggenheim Museum Open |pages=19 |work=The Salem News |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110757071/controversial-guggenheim-museum-open/ |access-date=October 5, 2022}}</ref> and was controversial among the public.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 19, 1959 |title=Circular Museum To Open Here Soon: Dramatic Sweep Upward to the Light Distinguishes Interior of Guggenheim Museum |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|114744252}}}}</ref><ref name=Pfeiffer35>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=35}}</ref> Some critics believed the building would overshadow the museum's artworks.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=May 18, 2009 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Final Gift |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/05/25/spiralling-upward |access-date=October 5, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> [[Emily Genauer]] of the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' said the building had been likened to "a giant corkscrew, a washing machine and a marshmallow",<ref name="Genauer 1959">{{cite news |last=Genauer |first=Emily |date=October 21, 1959 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Spiral Museum Opens: Guggenheim Museum Is Ready for Public Controversial 5th Ave. Structure Praised by Critics at Preview |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1324222657}}}}</ref> while Solomon's niece [[Peggy Guggenheim]] believed it resembled "a huge garage".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=January 19, 1969 |title=Paintings Descending A Ramp; Paintings descending a ramp |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/01/19/archives/paintings-descending-a-ramp-paintings-descending-a-ramp.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Members of the public felt that the building contrasted with the character of Fifth Avenue.<ref name=Pfeiffer35/> Other critics, and many artists, worried that it would be difficult to properly hang paintings in the shallow, windowless, concave exhibition niches around the main gallery.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1995|ps=.|p=34}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1959-04-10" /><ref name=time/> Prior to the opening of the museum, 21 artists signed a letter protesting the display of their work in such a space.<ref name=Stern815/><ref name="nyt-1956-12-12">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=December 12, 1956 |title=21 Artists Assail Museum Interior; Object to Showing Pictures on Spiraling Ramp in Frank Lloyd Wright Building Ramp Spirals in Hollow Core One Criticizes Exterior |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/12/12/archives/21-artists-assail-museum-interior-object-to-showing-pictures-on.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Phyllis Mark of the ''New Leader'' commented that the walls and ceilings would "disorient the viewer" and noted that the museum could only display five percent of its collection in the new building.<ref name="Mark 1959"/>

Art critics reviewed the structure especially harshly.<ref name=NPS39>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=39}}</ref> [[John Canaday]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote that the design would be worthy of merit if it were "stripped of its pictures",<ref name="nyt-1959-10-21">{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=October 21, 1959 |title=Wright Vs. Painting; A Critique of Guggenheim Museum Finds Design Defeats Its Function The Guggenheim Museum, a Provocative Design by Frank Lloyd Wright, Will Be Opened Today Wright Vs. Painting |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/21/archives/wright-vs-painting-a-critique-of-guggenheim-museum-finds-design.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|pp=39–40}}</ref> while [[Hilton Kramer]] of ''[[Arts Magazine]]'' opined that the structure was "what is probably [Wright's] most useless edifice".<ref name=NPS40>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=40}}</ref> Architectural critic [[Lewis Mumford]] summed up the opprobrium:
<blockquote>Wright has allotted the paintings and sculptures on view only as much space as would not infringe upon his abstract composition. ... [He] created a shell whose form has no relation to its function and offered no possibility of future departure from his rigid preconceptions. [The ramp] has, for a museum, a low ceiling – nine feet eight inches [295 cm] so only a picture well within the vertical boundaries thus created can be shown. The wall ... slanted outward, following the outward slant of the exterior wall, and paintings were not supposed to be hung vertically or shown in their true plane but were to be tilted back against it. ... Nor [can a visitor] escape the light shining in his eyes from the narrow slots in the wall.<ref name=Mumford1959>{{cite magazine |last=Mumford |first=Lewis |date=November 28, 1959 |title=What Wright Hath Wrought |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1959/12/05/what-wright-hath-wrought |access-date=October 5, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref></blockquote>

During his lifetime, Wright dismissed criticism of the structure, saying: "For the first time, art will be seen through an open window and, of all places, in New York".<ref>{{cite news |date=October 11, 1959 |title=Guggenheim Museum Will Open Oct. 21: Frank Lloyd Wright 'Temple in a Park' |page=33 |work=New York Herald Tribune |issn=1941-0646 |id={{ProQuest|1325266446}}}}</ref> He also felt that his design complemented Central Park, particularly with the shrubbery around the new building, which formed "a little park with a building in it".<ref name=Stern815/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Saarinen |first=Aline B. |date=September 22, 1957 |title=Tour With Mr. Wright; The noted architect, offering a preview of his new museum, talks of many things—art, architecture, nature and design. Tour With Mr. Wright |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/09/22/archives/tour-with-mr-wright-the-noted-architect-offering-a-preview-of-his.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Wright believed that the building would be well suited to [[avant-garde]] art, "which purported to represent space and form in a new, fully integrated manner".<ref name=McCarter318/>

The building also received critical acclaim. In a 1958 survey of the "Seven Wonders of American Architecture", five hundred architects ranked the Guggenheim as the 18th-best structure of more than 100 selected buildings.<ref name="Stern (1995) pp. 815–816">{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|pp=815–816}}</ref> When the building opened, modernist architects such as [[Philip Johnson]] and [[Edward Durell Stone]] praised Wright's design,<ref name="nyt-1959-10-22-1">{{Cite news |last=Alden |first=Robert |date=October 22, 1959 |title=Art Experts Laud Wright's Design; Museum Called 'Greatest' in City and 'Thrilling,' but Problems Are Cited |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/10/22/archives/art-experts-laud-wrights-design-museum-called-greatest-in-city-and.html |access-date=October 4, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=NPS38>{{harvnb|National Park Service|2005|ps=.|p=38}}</ref> and Genauer regarded it as "the most beautiful building in America".<ref name="Genauer 1959" /><ref name=NPS38/> This sentiment was shared even by commentators who questioned the building's functionality, including [[Robert M. Coates]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'', who wrote: "My question is not 'Is it art?' (I believe it is) but 'How well will it house art?'".<ref name=NPS38/><ref name=AF1959Dec>{{cite magazine |last=Blake |first=Peter |date=December 1959 |title=The Guggenheim: Museum or Monument? |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1959-12.PDF |magazine=Architectural Forum |volume=103 |page=180}}</ref> A writer for the ''New York Daily Mirror'' said the Guggenheim "should be put in a museum to show how mad the twentieth century is."<ref name=AF1959Dec/> Directors of other major New York City museums also praised the building, though some of them were skeptical of whether the structure could function well as a museum.<ref name=NPS39/><ref name="nyt-1959-10-22-1" />

=== Impact and retrospective commentary ===
In later years, the building became widely praised.<ref>[http://www.theartstory.org/museum-guggenheim.htm "The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum"], The Art Story Foundation. Retrieved March 21, 2012.</ref>{{sfn|Levine|1996|p=362}} Marcus Whiffen and Frederick Koeper wrote: "The dynamic interior of the Guggenheim is, for some, too competitive for the display of art, but no one disputes that it is one of the memorable spaces in all of architecture."<ref name=NPS42>{{harvnb|ps=.|National Park Service|2005|p=42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Whiffen |first1=Marcus |last2=Koeper |first2=Frederick |title=American architecture, 1607–1976 |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul |publication-place=London |date=1981 |isbn=0-7100-0813-9 |oclc=12089229 |page=369 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanarchitec0000whif_t3y6}}</ref> Paul Goldberger said in 2009: "I think the legacy of this building is in the message that architecture does not have to lie down and play dead in front of art."<ref>{{cite web |date=August 5, 2009 |title=Guggenheim Museum: The Spiral that Broke All the Rules |url=https://www.npr.org/2009/08/05/130274408/guggenheim-museum-the-spiral-that-broke-all-the-rules |access-date=October 6, 2022 |website=NPR.org}}</ref> According to [[Herbert Muschamp]], the Guggenheim was "one of New York's most distinguished landmarks", as well as Wright's best-known design.<ref name=NPS44>{{harvnb|ps=.|National Park Service|2005|p=44}}</ref><ref name=Muschamp1985>{{cite book |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |title=Man about Town: Frank Lloyd Wright in New York City |publisher=MIT Press |series=Mit Press |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-262-63100-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bs8HHQAACAAJ |page=5}}</ref> The [[American Institute of Architects]] gave a [[Twenty-five Year Award]] to the Guggenheim in 1986, describing the museum's building as "an architectural landmark and a monument to Wright's unique vision".<ref name=NYCL12/><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1986-05.pdf |title=Update on the Guggenheim |first=Doralice D. |last=Boles |date=Jun 1986 |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=67 |page=34}}</ref>

[[Image:FrankLloydWright1966USstamp.jpg|thumb|alt=2 cent postage stamp featuring a black and white illustration with bust of Wright in the foreground and the museum in the background.|2 cent U.S. postage stamp honoring Wright, with the Guggenheim in the background (1966)]]
Several writers described the Guggenheim as representing Wright's tendency toward organic architecture.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|National Park Service|2005|pp=42–43}}</ref> According to William J. R. Curtis, the building was "the apotheosis of Wright's organic philosophy".<ref name=NPS42/><ref>{{cite book |last=Curtis |first=William J. R. |title=Modern Architecture Since 1900 |publisher=Phaidon |publication-place=Oxford |date=1987 |isbn=0-7148-2482-8 |oclc=15657753 |page=270 |url=https://archive.org/details/modernarchitectu0000curt}}</ref> Peter Blake commented that the Guggenheim was Wright's "only completed work of uncompromising plasticity and continuity",<ref name=NPS43>{{harvnb|ps=.|National Park Service|2005|p=43}}</ref><ref name=Blake1996>{{cite book |last=Blake |first=Peter |title=The Master Builders: Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright |publisher=Norton |series=Norton library |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-393-31504-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4roPWSaQSOQC |page=400}}</ref> a claim with which Wright's biographer Robert C. Twombly agreed.<ref name=NPS43/><ref name=Twombly1991>{{cite book |last=Twombly |first=Robert C. |title=Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life and His Architecture |publisher=Wiley |series=A Wiley-Interscience publication |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-471-85797-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSA1HTTU-eMC |page=316}}</ref> Critics came to regard the Guggenheim as the best work of Wright's later career,<ref>{{cite book |last=Frampton |first=Kenneth |title=Modern Architecture: A Critical History |publisher=Thames and Hudson |series=World of art library |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-500-20201-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2MrnwEACAAJ |page=190}}</ref> as well as a culmination of the helical shapes that Wright had used in his designs since 1925.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Magnago Lampugnani |first1=Vittorio |last2=Bergdoll |first2=Barry |last3=Hatje |first3=Gerd |last4=Pehnt |first4=Wolfgang |title=Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture |publisher=N.N. Abrams |publication-place=New York |date=1986 |isbn=0-8109-0860-3 |oclc=11316465 |page=368}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Roth |first=Leland M. |title=A Concise History of American Architecture |publisher=Harper & Row |series=Icon editions |year=1980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDnFzgEACAAJ |page=294}}</ref> [[Spiro Kostof]] called the museum "a gift of pure architecture",<ref name=NPS43/><ref>{{cite book |last=Kostof |first=Spiro |title=A History of Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-508378-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYtUAAAAMAAJ |page=740}}</ref> and [[Edgar Kaufmann Jr.]] said the building was "one of the irrefutably grand achievements of modern architecture".<ref name=NPS43/><ref>{{cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Edgar Jr. |chapter=Frank Lloyd Wright |editor-last=Placzek |editor-first=Adolf K. |title=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects |publisher=Free Press |publication-place=New York |date=1982 |isbn=0-02-925000-5 |oclc=8763713 |page=}}</ref>

The museum building inspired other architects' designs.<ref name=Storrer401/><ref name=NYCL12/> Several similar buildings were developed in the 1960s, although they generally used less concrete than the Guggenheim did.<ref name=NYCL12/> Deborah Solomon of ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' wrote in 2002 that the Guggenheim inspired the phenomenon of "the museum that is just walls", wherein museums competed for the best-designed buildings.<ref name="nyt-2002-06-30">{{Cite news |last=Solomon |first=Deborah |date=June 30, 2002 |title=Is The Go-Go Guggenheim Going, Going ... |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/30/magazine/is-the-go-go-guggenheim-going-going.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The building was also depicted in a two-cent postage stamp issued in Wright's honor in 1966.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://usmodernist.org/AJ/AJ-1966-06.pdf |title=The Guggenheim Backs Up Frank Lloyd Wright |volume=45 |date=June 1966 |magazine=Journal of the American Institute of Architects |page=36}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990|ps=.|pp=11–12}}</ref> The [[American Institute of Architects]]' 2007 survey ''[[ America's Favorite Architecture|List of America's Favorite Architecture]]'' ranked the Guggenheim Museum among the top 150 buildings in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |website=FavoriteArchitecture.org |publisher=AIA |url=http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php |title=List of America's Favorite Architecture |year=2007 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510113118/http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php |archive-date=May 10, 2011}}</ref><ref name="nyt-2007-05-27">{{Cite news |last=Kugel |first=Seth |date=May 27, 2007 |title=The List: 33 Architectural Favorites in New York |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/travel/27Bweekend.html |access-date=January 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120163218/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/travel/27Bweekend.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Attendance ==
When the building opened, it was popular with the general public.<ref name="Bookbinder 1960">{{cite news |last=Bookbinder |first=Bernie |date=April 29, 1960 |title=Poll Shows Public Likes Guggenheim Museum |page=4 |work=Newsday |id={{ProQuest|898149345}}}}</ref> A 1960 [[Gallup poll]] found that 38 percent of visitors came for the building itself, while an additional 43 percent wanted to see both the building and the art.<ref name="Bookbinder 1960"/><ref name=Stern820>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=820}}</ref> The Guggenheim did not keep precise attendance records until 1992.<ref name=Barron2017>{{cite web |last=Barron |first=James |date=January 8, 2010 |title='Kandinsky' Helps Guggenheim Set Record Attendance |url=https://archive.nytimes.coam/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/guggenheim/ |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=City Room}}</ref> Before its 1990s renovation, it had an estimated 600,000 annual visitors.<ref name="nyt-1992-06-21">{{Cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=June 21, 1992 |title=Art View; At the Guggenheim, Bigger May Be Better |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/21/arts/art-view-at-the-guggenheim-bigger-may-be-better.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> This increased to between 900,000 and 1&nbsp;million by the early 2000s.<ref name="nyt-2004-06-10" /> It had 960,000 annual visitors before the September 11 attacks, but attendance decreased after the attacks; it recovered several years later.<ref name="Wilson 2006"/> In 2013, nearly 1.2&nbsp;million people visited the museum, and its James Turrell exhibition was the most popular in New York City in daily attendance.<ref name=attendance2013>[http://www.museus.gov.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TheArtNewspaper2013_ranking.pdf "Top 100 Art Museum Attendance"], ''[[The Art Newspaper]]'', 2014, pp. 11 and 15, accessed July 8, 2014.</ref> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Guggenheim had only 154,000 visitors in 2020, an 88 percent decrease from the preceding year.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sharpe |first=Emily |date=March 30, 2021 |title=Visitor Figures 2020: top 100 art museums revealed as attendance drops by 77% worldwide |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/03/30/visitor-figures-2020-top-100-art-museums-revealed-as-attendance-drops-by-77percent-worldwide |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=The Art Newspaper}}</ref> {{As of|2023|alt=In 2023}}, the museum had 861,000 visitors, compared with 1.2&nbsp;million in 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).<ref name=artnews2023/><ref name="The New York Times 2024 x956">{{cite web |title=Four Years After Covid-19 Shutdown, Are Audiences Back? |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |date=March 12, 2024 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/arts/covid-shutdown-live-audiences.html |access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

According to museum officials, surveys over the years have indicated that most visitors came because of the building's architecture rather than its artwork.<ref name="nyt-2004-06-10" /> In 2001, ''The New York Times'' reported that nearly 70 percent were tourists and that half were foreigners.<ref name="nyt-2001-11-20" /> In 2010, the ''Times'' reported that 55–65 percent of visitors were from the [[New York metropolitan area]].<ref name=Guggenheim20100125>{{cite web |date=January 25, 2010 |title=Kandinsky Retrospective Helps Set New Attendance Record for 2009 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/news/kandinsky-attendance |access-date=March 24, 2020 |website=Guggenheim}}</ref> According to a 2018 study, 73 percent of the museum's visitors were white and 8 percent were black.<ref name=Holmes2020/>

In 2009, a Frank Lloyd Wright retrospective attracted 372,000 visitors in three months, becoming the museum's single most popular exhibit.<ref>{{cite web |last=Itzkoff |first=Dave |date=August 27, 2009 |title=Wright Exhibition Sets Guggenheim Attendance Record |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/wright-exhibition-sets-guggenheim-attendance-record/ |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=ArtsBeat}}</ref> This record was broken the next year by a Kandinsky exhibit.<ref name=Barron2017/><ref name=Guggenheim20100125/> {{As of|2022}}, the most popular exhibition in the museum's history was a 2019 exhibition of [[Hilma af Klint]] paintings,<ref>{{cite web |last=Saad |first=Shirine |date=May 1, 2019 |title=How Art Museums Must Transform to Thrive in a Post–Hilma af Klint World |url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/05/hilma-af-klint-attendance-guggenheim-legacy-blockbuster.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |website=Slate Magazine}}</ref> which attracted over 600,000 visitors in six months.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ferren |first=Andrew |date=October 21, 2019 |title=In Search of Hilma af Klint, Who Upended Art History, But Left Few Traces |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/travel/stockholm-hilma-af-klint.html |access-date=October 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Frank Lloyd Wright works]]
* [[List of Guggenheim Museums]]
* [[List of most-visited museums in the United States]]
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City]]
* [[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets]]
* [[List of World Heritage Sites in the United States]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book |last=Ballon |first=Hillary |title=The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Making of the Modern Museum |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |year=2009 |display-authors=etal}}
* {{cite magazine |date=May 1958 |title=Guggenheim Museum In Progress |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1958-05.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=123 |pages=185–190 |ref={{harvid|Architectural Record|1958}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Krens |first=Thomas |chapter=The Genesis of a Museum; A History of the Guggenheim |title=Art of this Century: The Guggenheim Museum and Its Collection |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |publication-place=New York |date=1993 |isbn=0-89207-072-2 |oclc=29976871}}
* {{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Lisa |title=The Writers Directory |location=Detroit |publisher=[[St. James Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=9781558628137}}
* {{cite book |last=Levine |first=Neil |author-link=Neil Levine (art historian) |title=The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright |url=https://archive.org/details/architectureoffr0000levi |url-access=registration |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=New Jersey |year=1996}}
* {{cite book |last=Loebl |first=Suzanne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ren194kADK0C&pg=PA284 |title=America's Art Museums: A Traveler's Guide to Great Collections Large and Small |publisher=Norton |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-393-32006-0}}
* {{cite book |last=McCarter |first=Robert |title=Frank Lloyd Wright |date=1997 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=0-7148-3148-4 |publication-place=London |oclc=37893035}}
* {{cite book |last=Pfeiffer |first=Bruce Brooks |title=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |publisher=Guggenheim Museum Publications |publication-place=New York |date=1995 |isbn=0-8109-6889-4 |oclc=35797856}}
* {{cite book |last=Sennott |first=R. Stephen |title=Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture |volume=2 |location=New York |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |year=2004}}
* {{cite book | last=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation | last2=Fontanella | first2=Megan | title=Visionaries | publisher=Guggenheim Museum | publication-place=New York | date=2017 | isbn=978-0-89207-526-3}}
* {{cite book | author=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum | title=Art of this Century: The Guggenheim Museum and Its Collection | publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation | year=1993 | isbn=978-0-89207-073-2 | url=https://archive.org/details/artofth00solo }}
* {{cite report |date=May 19, 2005 |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000443.pdf |access-date= |website= |publisher=[[National Register of Historic Places]], [[National Park Service]] |ref={{harvid|National Park Service|2005}}}}
* {{Cite report |date=August 14, 1990 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1774.pdf |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1990}}}}
* {{Cite report |date=August 14, 1990 |publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1775.pdf |title=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Interior |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1990}}}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Spector |editor-first=Nancy |editor-link=Nancy Spector |title=Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z |publisher=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |location=New York |year=2001}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Stern |first1=Robert A. M. |last2=Mellins |first2=Thomas |last3=Fishman |first3=David |url=https://archive.org/details/newyork1960archi0000ster |url-access=registration |title=New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial |date=1995 |publisher=Monacelli Press |isbn=1-885254-02-4 |location=New York |oclc=32159240}}
* {{cite book |last=Storrer |first=William Allin |title=The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalogue |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2002}}, S.400
* {{cite book |editor-last=Vail |editor-first=Karole |editor-link=Karole Vail |title=The Museum of Non-Objective Painting |publisher=The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |location=New York |year=2009}}


==External links==
{{external media
 | video1 = [http://www.guggenheim.org/video/art-architecture-and-innovation-celebrating-the-guggenheim-museum  ''Art, Architecture, and Innovation: Celebrating the Guggenheim Museum''], Guggenheim, June 8, 2010
}}
* {{Official website}}
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/solomon-r-guggenheim-museum Google Cultural Institute] page

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