Bilbao, June 9-11

Spent a very long day on the trains to Bilbao. had to go thru Madrid and had only an hour to not only change trains but go to another station. Took a taxi thru rush hour traffic with Raphael – Ralph – who had to look at his phone constantly while changing lanes no less as well as talk to me in his very broken English. Made it thru bumper to bumper traffic with plenty of time and got to see a bit of modern Madrid, suburban Madrid which looks remarkably like suburban Southern California. Mid-rise apartment and office buildings. The same jumble we have at home. I wish I would have had time to see what it looks like off of the freeway. Un eventful journey except that the landscape and flora changed dramatically steep hills and valleys covered with dense trees broken up by fields and farms wherever it was relatively flat. This was a dramatic change from the rest of the country.   Traveled thru what was more pampas than not with few  trees and mostly dry farming and typical Spanish architecture of brick and tile roofed buildings. An arid landscape for the most part. The rain in Spain decidedly does NOT fall mainly on the plains!
For some reason I expected Bilbao to be on the coast it is not but located on a river that is navigable and once carried steel out to the world. Bilbao was once Spain’s Pittsburg. No more, most of the heavy industry and manufacturing is long gone just like the rust belt of the mid-west America. Along with its departure went the good jobs and before the new Guggenheim museum the waterfront was an industrial wasteland. No more. The museum did what was hoped for and brought in new money and the river has been cleaned up and the areas around the museum are now some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Bilbao. Along the river is a magnificent park with new office buildings and housing. The park was filled with people and there was a vibrancy to the neighborhoods around the museum even tho a lot of the businesses were closed for the weekend.
I stayed up the hill about a 20 minute walk, (down hill) from the Museum. My room overlooked a bull ring.

The view from my room of the bull ring.

But there was no bull fight scheduled. They are just not as popular as they used to be and young people stay away. I doubt they will exist in another twenty years.
The Guggenheim is truely a masterpiece. So much so that it overshadows much of the art inside. There are four magnificent Richard Serras which stand up to their surroundings and even compliment the soaring ceilings and curvilinear ceilings and walls. The sculptures are gigantic made of 2 inch thick Corten steel steel which has patina of rust that is just luscious!
Great works wasted on an indifferent audience for the most part. I watched as visitors walked the spiral corridors formed by the steel plates only to enter the interior spaces look around for a second expecting to see an object as their reward for the walk. They all snap a photo and head back many of them looking at the floor as they walk. I just wanted to say. Why are you wasting your time. Just go to the museum shop buy your t-shirt get something to eat at the cafe and be on your way!
Needless to say I found these works to be fabulous even tho I’d seen similar or identical pieces at the Dia beacon in upstate New York. And there, mercifully without the crowds. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the audience. Minimalism requires time and concentration and most people are too transfixed by their phone to have the time or concentration the works of Serra require. Had a nice chat with one of the guards who long ago, she said gave up trying to enforce the no photography statute. I didn’t see the sign till I had taken most of my shots. Still I couldn’t resist and for once I knew the photography wouldn’t damage the steel sculptures.
For the most part the rest of the artwork in the building was overshadowed by the architecture. Tho, there were two rather conventional rooms that displayed works by Kiefer, Warhol and Rauschenberg that were strong and held their own.

“Barge” by Rauschenberg.

I finally got to see “Barge” by Rauschenberg which must have been 40 feet long and done by the artist in a twenty-four hour marathon. I had read about this piece but this was my first viewing. A great piece and one of the few that has, in my pompous opinion, held up over time. The monumental “150 Marilyns” also did itself proud.

“150 Marilyn’s” by Warhol.

The kiefers were great but never look like anything in reproduction. You just have to see them in the “flesh.” BTW, All the pictures I’m using here were downloaded off the web. Better quality and I adhered to the photography prohibition. I missed a Bill Viola retrospective which won’t open till the end of the month.

The building is truely magnificent and clearly Gerry was not limited by budget nor imagination. the craftsmanship was as good as the design which is a testament to European excellence which we do not have for the most part back home. Even the restrooms were decorated.Had a lunch of tapas on the terrace to break up my time in the galleries and then went out to circle the building to admire Koons’ Puppy which Ive been dying to see for years. Its one of the few of his works that i really like and I think in part because it has a gentleness and sence of humor rather than the smug slap in the face I find in most of his works. Placement and scale of the piece really works and it serves to greet and welcome you to the museum when you arrive. The public loves it and everyone, including me, shoots a selfie on arrival.

“Spider” by Louis Bourgeois.

Finally the Louis Bourgeois spider lurking on the other side of the building provides a serious counterpoint to the puppy. Both seem to work and compliment each other tho you cannot see both at the same time with the museum walling them off from each other. Two faces of the human condition. I went around the building and found a cafe across the way where i could have coffee and face the museum. A perfect view to admire its sculptural elevation and great people watching to boot.

I also called Bruce using some of my unused talk minutes on my Vodafone cellphone plan. the weather was perfect. This was not typical according to my host Bilbao only has 30-40 days of sun a year. The rest is clouds.
Enjoyed a lamb chop dinner and went to bed. A very good day and well worth the detour to visit.
Spent most of the rest of the day just walking around and enjoying the city its not as picturesque as other in Spain but the old part of the city has some beautiful plazas and architecture and the linear park that extends from the museum comes around to the old original city core and was positively packed with people. I had coffees in the plaza and then made my way back to my room to pick up my suitcase for the downhill walk to the station. I made the mistake of taking the train to San Sebastián. About a 6 hour ride with an hour and a half change of trains added. My host told me he always takes the bus for a less than 3 hour ride. Oh well…….