The Guggenheim Museum stands on Fifth Avenue at 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is also known as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and it is a museum of modern and contemporary art set in a building that is as much a reason to visit as the works inside it.
The building
The museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Its most striking feature is its spiral form: visitors move up a continuous ramp rather than through a series of separate rooms, with the galleries opening onto the central space as they climb. Many people find the experience of simply being inside the building as memorable as the art itself, and it is worth allowing time to look up and around.
The collection
The museum showcases modern and contemporary art, so a visit tends to be about looking closely at work from the last century and the present one. Because the layout is unusual, the rhythm of a visit differs from a conventional gallery: you see pieces in sequence as you ascend, and the sightlines across the open space connect different parts of the collection.
Planning a visit
- Address: 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128, United States
- Telephone: +1-212-423-3500
- Location: Upper East Side, Manhattan, close to Central Park, which makes a pleasant walk before or after your visit
Check the museum's contact details before you go for current information on visiting arrangements, as these can change. The surrounding neighbourhood offers cafés, other museums and the wide green spaces of Central Park, so it is easy to fit the museum into a longer day in the city.