A relatively early get up to get down for breakfast and say a proper good-bye to Luis and our Coloradans, as well as Peter and Paul. Since it was early, I decided to head over to the old town and see what I could see before we had to head over to the Guggenheim for our visit. Managed to get to the Basilica and a ways from that La Fuente del Perro, or Dog’s Fountain. This is not what you’d really call a fountain as such. There are three heads of what are actually lions set into a wall from which the water pours into a trough. But back in the day, no one had seen a lion so they thought they were dogs and now the fountain is called La fuente del perro. As I was seeking out these landmarks, the heavens opened up and we got a mighty downpour. I decided perhaps I should make my way back to the hotel, since we had to check out by 11. Fortunately we were able to leave our bags there since we couldn’t check in to our Air BnB till 4:00.
Off we set, bound for the Guggenheim Museum not all that far from the hotel and even closer to our AirBnB.It was a pleasant walk along the river with no rain! Our tickets were for 1:30 so we decided to grab a coffee and a snack, which was fortunate because no sooner were we tucked under the cover in the cafe than the heavens once again opened up (with hail this time)! Once the rain stopped, we decided we had best high-tail it to the museum before another downpour hit!
The Guggenheim is an absolutely amazing place. It is a modern art museum, which is something I love! There were so many outstanding exhibits I would be hard-pressed to say which I liked the best. First we wandered through “The Matter of Time” by Richard Serra, which is an installation consisting of a series of huge pieces created from industrial steel. It is immense and takes up a great deal of space. A second temporary exhibit is the works of Ruth Asawa, an American of Japanese descent whose most well-known works are her abstract looped wire sculptures. But she was a prolofic artist and also worked in a number of other mediums.
A third special exhibit was the works of Igshaan Adams, an artist from South Africa who works in tapestries and textile-based sculptures, installations and performance-based art. His tapestries are very large pieces, several metres in dimension and displayed hung from the ceiling. They consist of textiles, fabric, beads, shells and sometimes even washcloths and garden fencing. They are absolutely stunning, especially when you have a whole gallery of them displayed together.
There was a gallery dedicated to the dark side of war, with several different artists’ interpretations. One was a one column digital display of individuals’ first-hand experiences of war, and another a wall made of steel and barbed wire.
Another gallery held the works of a variety of modern artists, including Eduardo Chillida, who created the Comb of the Wind sculptures in San Sebastián. Also Yves Klein, whose work was in a gallery I visited on our trip to Washington, D.C. and Andy Warhol with a large version of his iconic Marilyn Monroe series.
Irv, not being as much an aficionado of modern art as I, kindly found a place to sit while I explored the museum.After three and a half hours, I can’t say that I had my fill but came pretty close!
But then there is the building itself! Designed by Frank Gehry, a Canadian - American architect and designer who is well-known for his post-modern designs snd his use of unconventional forms and materials. His better-known works are characterized by their sculptural, often undulating exteriors and his innovative use of materials such as titanium ans stainless steel. We had experienced his work on our previous trip to Spain at the Marqués de Riscal Winery, and seen the Lou Ruvo Centre in Las Vegas.
Outside the building are a number of sculptures as well, including the giant spider, “Maman”, “Tall Tree and the Eye” a tower of stainless steel balls (think Talus Dome in Edmonton), “Puppy” - a forty foot high West Highland Terrier covered in flowers, which are changed each season. A walk back to the hotel to collect our luggage and make our way to our Air BnB. It is on the same street as the hotel, a little closer to the Guggenheim, but further away from the old town. Got settled in to our new digs for the next three days, went for a grocery shop for brekkie things, then headed over to a nearby restaurant for dinner. And that was our first full day in Bilbao!