Andrew thinks he has missed his calling!

This morning we woke to a very cold and wet day, so we decided

we'd drive to Bilbao (100k's) and visit The Guggenheim.

The Guggenheim, Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry.

Built alongside the Nervion River, it features permanent and

visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists.

The building itself is AMAZING. It was difficult to take photos from under the umbrella so today I have found some from the internet...

The interior is also very impressive...

After wandering around for a few hours Andrew announced 
that he was becoming an artist when he returns home...
he thinks he can make a fortune!

Here are some of the exhibits we really enjoyed...

Richard Serra
The Matter of Time, 1994–2005
Eight sculptures
Weathering Steel

This photo shows most of the 8 pieces that make up the Matter of Time installation and does not give any real indication of its size...

Walking through The Matter of Time produces different effects on the movement and perception of the viewer as you walk through 
and around them, creating an unforgettable, 
dizzying feeling of space in motion.

Double Torqued Ellipse, 2003–04
Weathering Steel
Outer ellipse: 4.27 x 11.41 x 12.19 m;

inner ellipse: 4.27 x 6.2 x 9.75 m;

plate Thickness: 5 cm

If you look at the dimensions of this piece which is 

in the foreground of the photo of the whole installation...,

you might get an idea about how huge it is.
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Andy Warhol

One Hundred and Fifty Multicolored Marilyns, 1979

Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas...a HUGE 201 x 1,055 x 6 cm

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Andrew couldn't quite believe what he was hearing

on the audioguide with this one!

Yves Klein

Large Blue Anthropometry [ANT 105]

[La grande Anthropométrie bleue (ANT 105)], ca. 1960

Dry pigment and synthetic resin on paper mounted on canvas

287.8 x 430 x 4 cm

Anxious to break with all forms of expressionism, Klein had,

practically from the outset of his career, "rejected the brush,"

 in favour of rollers, which were more "anonymous". 

He expanded on this idea: he used nude models as "living brushes"

that created marks and impressions under his supervision.

The Anthropometries, as they would be branded 
allowed him to revive the nude

without resorting to traditional means of representation.

Klein presented a demonstration of the technique in Paris

on March 9, 1960, attended by approximately one hundred guests.

As musicians played Klein's Monotone Silence Symphony,

the tuxedo-clad artist directed the actions of three nude models,

who spread paint on their torsos and thighs and

pressed or dragged their bodies on sheets of white paper.

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It is possible to walk all the way around the Museum,

admiring  a number of artworks installed outside

by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Chillida,

Yves Klein, Jeff Koons and Fujiko Nakaya.

Jeff Koons

Tulips, 1995–2004

High chromium stainless steel with transparent colour coating

203 x 460 x 520 cm

Koons employed sophisticated computer modelling

to create a work that references the 18th-century formal European garden.

A behemoth West Highland terrier carpeted in bedding plants,

Puppy employs the most saccharine of iconography

...flowers and puppies...in a monument to the sentimental.

Imposing in scale, its size both tightly contained and

seemingly out of control

(it is both literally and figuratively still growing).

Jeff Koons

Puppy (1992)

stainless steel, soIl, geotextile fabric, 

internal irrigation system, 

live flowering plants. 

486 x 486 x 256 inches 

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Almost 9 meters tall, Maman is one of the most ambitious

of a series of sculptures by Louise Bourgeois that take as their subject

the spider, a motif...both protector and predator...

the silk of a spider is used both to construct cocoons and to bind prey...

and embody both strength and fragility.

Such ambiguities are powerfully figured in the mammoth Maman,

which hovers ominously on legs like Gothic arches

that act at once as a cage and

as a protective lair to a sac full of eggs

perilously attached to her undercarriage.

The spider provokes awe and fear, yet her massive height,

improbably balanced on slender legs,

conveys an almost poignant vulnerability.
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We enjoyed a FABULOUS lunch at a cafe Peta
 had noticed on our way to The Guggenheim.

and then explored a Spanish department store...

El Corte Inglés before heading back to San Sebastian.

I found and bought 2 lovely tops (thanks to Peta's guidance)

...a very rewarding wet day activity!

Today we've walked 12.6 k's...not bad on such a cold and wet day.