The Guggenheim Museum

Having grown up in New York City, the Guggenheim has always been my favorite museum/exhibition space. Beyond the incredible art shown there, the Guggenheim is at the top of my list because of the open central space, and the way that the spiral interior design complements the art exhibited. I love that the design establishes an intentional flow through the space, allowing the exhibitions to have a more concrete physical narrative. While the design is primarily open-concept, I also appreciate that it includes a mix of different discrete spaces, connecting rooms with tall ceilings as well as more intimate spaces to accommodate different types of art (e.g., large paintings and installations as well as smaller prints and sketches). While I do believe the design of the space qualifies as art itself, it doesn’t detract from any of the exhibits shown, but rather informs them by guiding the viewer to walk through the space and exhibit in a way that physically and conceptually bridges the art pieces and collections through the cyclical design. This format lends itself particularly well to retrospective exhibitions by physically manifesting the evolution of a single artist - my all-time favorite exhibition here was Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, shown in the photo above.

The Anderson Collection

Another (smaller) exhibition space that I love is the Anderson Collection, here on Stanford’s campus. I really love that the exterior design is integrated with the surrounding environment through color and texture, a sharp contrast to the neighboring Cantor Museum. Also, similar to the Guggenheim, the interior of the Anderson establishes an innate flow that guides the viewers to view the art in a certain sequence, though not as rigid or grandiose as the Guggenheim. Specifically, the second level of the Anderson is open-concept, with partitioning walls establishing discrete walkways that encourage viewers to walk through the collection in specific patterns. While viewers have more agency in the Anderson and can disregard the designed flows, there is still an intentionality to the space that I believe adds an additional narrative element that informs the art.