Attraction
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met on Fifth Avenue is one of the world's great encyclopaedic art museums, spanning five thousand years of art from every corner of the globe.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Frank Lloyd Wright's spiralling white rotunda on Museum Mile houses modern and contemporary art and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
At a glance
- Type
- Modern art museum
- Area
- Upper East Side, New York, United States
- Official site
- guggenheim.org
Good to know
- Frank Lloyd Wright building
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Spiral ramp galleries
Why we recommend it
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is as famous for its building as for its art. Frank Lloyd Wright's white spiral on Fifth Avenue, between 88th and 89th Streets, was completed in 1959, six months after the architect's death, and it is the only museum he designed. In 2019 it became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering eight of Wright's twentieth-century buildings.
Inside, the main gallery is a six-storey rotunda wrapped by a continuous ramp of about 1,400 feet, lit from above by a glass skylight. Exhibitions unfold along the ramp, and a common approach is to take the lift to the top and walk gently down, though you can equally climb from the bottom. The changing shows range from major retrospectives to contemporary commissions, and the building often shapes how the art is hung.
The permanent collection began with Solomon Guggenheim's own interest in non-objective art, and Wassily Kandinsky is central to its story. The Thannhauser Collection, given by the art dealer Justin Thannhauser, adds Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early modern works by artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Manet, and these are shown in galleries off the rotunda. A ten-storey annex designed by Gwathmey Siegel, added in 1992, provides further gallery space.
The museum is manageable in two hours or so, which makes it easy to combine with another museum on the same day. Opening hours and ticket options, including any discounted or pay-what-you-wish sessions, are published on the official website and change from time to time, so check before you go. The ramp is gently sloped and lifts serve every level. Arriving at opening time usually means a calmer first walk up the spiral. Even if the current exhibition is not to your taste, the building alone justifies a visit: stand at the bottom of the rotunda and look up at the skylight before you start.
The Guggenheim faces Central Park on Museum Mile. The nearest subway is 86th Street on the 4, 5 and 6 lines, a walk of about ten minutes west to Fifth Avenue. The Met is a few blocks south, the Neue Galerie and Café Sabarsky are at 86th Street, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir is just across the road in the park.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum FAQs
Who designed the Guggenheim building?
Frank Lloyd Wright. It is the only museum he designed and was completed in 1959.
Is the building a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Yes. Since 2019 it has been part of the listing for The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.
How do you see the exhibitions?
Exhibitions run along a spiral ramp around the central rotunda; many visitors take the lift to the top and walk down.
What is in the permanent collection?
Modern art with a strong focus on Kandinsky, plus the Thannhauser Collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early modern works.
How long should you allow?
About two hours is enough for most visits.
Where is the Guggenheim?
At 1071 Fifth Avenue, between 88th and 89th Streets on the Upper East Side, facing Central Park.
Which subway station is nearest?
86th Street on the 4, 5 and 6 lines, about a ten-minute walk away.
Where can you check hours and ticket offers?
On the museum's official website, which lists current opening hours and any discounted sessions.