Bilbao Guggenheim

Religion

John is speaking to people influenced by two forms of Gnosticism:

Docetism – denied the reality of the incarnation – Christ only appeared to have a human body

and

Cerinthianism – Cerinthus was a contemporary of John who trained in Egypt and held that Jesus was the natural born son of Joseph and Mary and that Christ entered the body of Jesus at His baptism and withdrew prior to the crucifixion.

To combat these errors, John says:

‘ That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; ( For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.’

I John 1: 1-3

A visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao

Bilboa is an industrial port city in northern Spain, surrounded by green mountains. The Guggenheim Museum was opened in 1997.

Let us walk into this scene. We will be heading to the red arch in the distance. Flanked by a tall tower and the red arch is a building described in shape as a flower from one angle and then as a ship  looking at it from the River Nervion. This is our destination. Press on the picture to see that you are looking at a slice of Bilbao.

We have come down a steep hill from where our photo was taken and are going to look at some street scenes and shops.

I looked, too. It was beautiful to see the patterns of one’s iris.

A tram ride, and we are at our destination greeted by Maman, an over 300ft high spider. This is a recurring motif in the work of Louise Bourgeois, who uses them to pay tribute to her mother.

The entrance to this groundbreaking 20th century  museum is on our left and here is a quote from the architect:

‘ For me, every day is a new thing. I approach each project with a new insecurity, almost like the first project I ever did. And I get the sweats. I go in and start working. I’m not sure where I ‘m going. If I knew where I was going, I wouldn’t do it.’

Frank Gehry

When inside, my first thought was that I had seen some leaves, but stay with me in these pictures and see what it was.

We are on the second floor looking at Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s sculpture. They are husband and wife from Sweden who like to sculpture everyday objects so as to:

provoke wonder and awe,

make them more visible,

challenge scale perceptions.

We then see a short queue for what looks like a white cube. Four or five people get shut inside it for a short time. What is it?

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who, in her nineties, has her most recent work here for us to see.

Here is a little about how her health has affected her art. At an early age, she started experiencing hallucinations. This installation is an immersive experience that reflects Kusama’s hallucinations, making us participate in her obsessive universe. She invites us to disappear in the vibrant interplay of coloured lights that multiply limitlessly on the mirrored walls of this infinity room.

We are the third floor having walked across spaces on curving connecting bridges. There are the following:

Andy Warhol

One hundred and fifty Multicoloured Marilyn’s

1979.

Robert Motherwell

The Voyage: Ten Years After 1961

William Kooning

I didn’t get the name but it did make me ask questions like:

What colour did he work with first?

What direction are the strokes going in?

Which colours are thicker/ longer/ horizontal/ vertical. 

I think the white is significant.

It is helpful to retrace ones steps after an experience like this and notice that Hilma af Klint must not be confused with Gustav Klimt, who painted The Kiss. Hilma af Klint is a Swedish artist whose paintings are considered among the first abstract works known in Western art history. She first studied portrait painting , botanical drawing, and landscapes. Here are two.

She then was part of the Theosophical movement, making strong connections with spiritualism. Her paintings became more spiritual, and often, she didn’t know what she was going to produce with shapes becoming more symbolic in their triangles and circles. They were often influenced by séances.

After this, we needed to walk, and we did walk through ” The Matter of Time,” a huge installation by sculptor Richard Serra. There was wide, narrow, long, compressed, high, low.

Walk a little with us:

I hope you have had a taste of artwork in a work of art. A total experience.

Take care,

Sandy 🙂

Ps

‘Eventually, everything connects – people

ideas

objects.

The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.’

Charles Eames

Here is a set of four photographs:

Children on the shores of the Atlantic construct homes from drift wood.

The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao designed by Canadian American  architect  Frank Gehry and covered in 33,000 titanium plates.

An instalation The Matter of Time by Richard Serra, an American sculptor, consisting of eight pieces of torqued ellipses made of weathering, steal.

The Antelope caves naturally carved by water and time of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Here, the picture is small of Roy and I standing in this place that could be flooded at any time. Nature chooses her own way of working on what she makes.