On my recent US trip I visited plenty of art museums and exhibitions, mostly in New York City, and decided to assemble a series of posts with art pieces and occasionally the people and places surrounding them. Most of the art you’ll see is quite modern and abstract so it’s open for various interpretations and might not appeal to everyone. Yet this first post in the series is probably the least controversial as it features extremely famous and well established works mostly from the first part of 20th century exhibited in the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan’s Upper East side. Paradoxically with the title of the series I chose, Guggenheim’s art pieces are predominantly European and there’s very little connection to the American continent except for the venue (with one notable exception, let’s see if you spot it). To make things more fun for the reader, I decided to give three small riddles in the photo comments below in order to challenge the artistically inclined people among you. Enjoy and good luck with the answers!
Even if the Guggenheim museum is packed with amazing art pieces, it’s probably most recognizable for the iconic spiral shaped building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The various paintings and sculptures you’ll see are exhibited along the spiralling pathway that curves upwards.We start the art tour with the famous “black lines” of Vassily Kandinsky who is one of the best represented artists in the Guggenheim museum…..along with the hardly-mistakable Pablo Picasso, here with his “woman with yellow hair”.Another hardly mistakable artist, Marc Chagall, with his highly non-standard view of Paris on the left and drinking soldier on the right.Maybe very slightly less famous than the previous three artists, but at least equally abstract – Naum Gabo.Another abstract artist’s view of Paris – Robert Delaunay and his impression of the Eiffel tower.A wider shot of the museum visitors and in particular two of the famous “compositions” of Piet Mondrian. And here comes my first and easiest riddle for today – what is the relation between the music I chose and almost all the art pieces and artists here?Another famous artist, Amedeo Modigliani, chose to depict less abstract subjects in comparison to his good friend Picasso. I find a strange resemblance between the two women on the photo, don’t you think?This is Oskar Fischinger with his untitled work. He’s one of the odd ones out that doesn’t fit in riddle 1 that I stated above.And here comes the second riddle which has nothing to do with the Rolling Stones fan on focus: who is the author of the painting behind?A piece of pure wisdom that I found in the museum shop.Another abstract composition related to the last riddle: who created the painting and what is the number associated with it?Getting to the very top of the spiral pathway in Guggenheim and the final piece of abstract art, one finally reaches the unfathomable style of Jackson Pollock and the end of this art journey.
It was amazing! I just got so excited…
1) Ravel belonged to the period of time that all above artists did. He lived and worked in paris. Bolero has a Russian origin and was flourished in Paris like abstract movement which roots in Russia and in the same period that modern art was forming.
3) Kandinsky, but don’t know the number,
and the last pic according to the first paragraph of your post, Pollock is the only American artist among all artists above. 😀
…really enjoyed it, specially the photo you took from the shop was such fun!
I really enjoy Kandinsky’s abstractions. He truly is the father of abstract art. His books are enlightening as well.
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It was amazing! I just got so excited…
1) Ravel belonged to the period of time that all above artists did. He lived and worked in paris. Bolero has a Russian origin and was flourished in Paris like abstract movement which roots in Russia and in the same period that modern art was forming.
3) Kandinsky, but don’t know the number,
and the last pic according to the first paragraph of your post, Pollock is the only American artist among all artists above. 😀
…really enjoyed it, specially the photo you took from the shop was such fun!
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Beautiful review of the guggenheim
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one of the great museums
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