Family Tour

Plaza, terrace

Some of the works in the Collection are permanently on display either inside or outside Frank Gehry’s building. They include a few site-specific installations designed by contemporary artists especially for the places where they stand.

1st and 3rd floors

The Museum’s exhibitions give you a lot of opportunities to learn about the new forms of creation and understand works of art. Walk around The Matter of Time, Richard Serra’s installation, exploring the sculptures and looking at their morphing shapes. After your exploration, climb up to the balcony overlooking the installation for a broader view. You will be astonished!

1st floor, basement

You will find restrooms on every level in the Museum and baby changing facilities on the 1st floor and the basement.

1st floor, Coatroom

At the Museum cloakroom you will find strollers and baby backpacks to carry your kids around more comfortably.

Bar and Restaurants

The Bar Guggenheim Bilbao serves snacks, pintxos, pastries, and beverages, plus a menu of the day. In addition, the Museum affords two world-class culinary experiences, at the Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao, an haute cuisine restaurant, and the Bistro Guggenheim Bilbao, a restaurant wrapped in a more informal atmosphere. The availability of this service depends on the specifics of the health situation related to COVID-19.

What if there were no rules for painting? What if color could wander about the canvas, flowing like water? This is exactly what happens in the works of Helen Frankenthaler (1928–2011), an American artist who came up with her own painting technique and, in so doing, changed the way of making art.

The exhibition begins with Frankenthaler’s early works, when she was a young artist. She began to use thinned-down paint on canvas, letting the paint soak into the fabric. This technique came to be known as “soak-stain”. Then you will see how her paintings got filled with brighter colors and clearer forms that seem to float in mid-air. Some of Helen’s friends were artists too, like Jackson Pollock. From him she learned that she could paint placing the canvas on the floor. Now look at Helen’s color spots. Can you identify those that were painting using this technique?

Helen’s friends included sculptors too, like Anthony Caro, who encouraged her to try new painting techniques. Some of her paintings seem to have volume, as if they were sculptures made of color. And she even made a few metal sculptures! Now check out the titles of her works: they will tell you about Helen’s travels and her life by the sea, which also left a mark on her work. As she grew older, she used fewer colors, inspired by the landscapes that had left a lasting impression on her. Even in old age, she continued to explore freedom in art, using paper, sponges… even wooden spoons!

In galleries 202 and 203 on level 2, you will find the paintings of Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral (1886–1973).

Tarsila stayed in Europe for a long time, living in Barcelona and Paris, and studying in different art academies. When she returned to Brazil, she looked at Brazilian popular culture with fresh eyes, including its bright colors in her paintings, characterized by geometric forms and bold lines, as in A Cuca (1924). Sometimes, her works reflect the surrealist, bewildering atmosphere of dreams, as in Distance (1928).

Tarsila’s paintings show both the landscapes of rural Brazil and the fast-paced industrialization of Brazilian cities, including metal structures, railroad tracks, and trains. In Workers (1933), for instance, factory smokestacks appear in the background, while in the foreground you can see a group portrait with lots of different faces – a tribute to Brazil’s rich multicultural heritage.