#217: TRIBUTE | FRANK GEHRY (1929-2025) AND A VISIT TO BILBAO
From across the river passing under a bridge (photo by Anthony Poon)
In 1998, I was traveling through Spain, and this new building just opened: the Guggenheim Museum. In the obscure industrial port city of Bilbao, the Basque Country of northern Spain, this museum was the talk of the industry. So I wrapped up my tour of Barcelona, then hopped on a short flight to check out the buzzy Guggenheim structure. No doubt, it was a work of genius.
My travel partner asked, “Why do we need go out of our way to some unknown town just to see a single building.”
I responded, “Well, based on all the press, reviews, rumors, etc., missing this opportunity would be like being in Egypt and not seeing the pyramids.”
There is little I can add in this tribute to Frank Gehry (1929-2025) that hasn’t already been said in thousands of articles from the past weeks. After all, he is the most celebrated and visionary architect of our generation.
Instead, I will simply share images from that random rainy visit in the 90s to Bilbao. The iPhone was certainly not yet invented. My following grainy photos are shot on a Nikon FE2 on ISO 200 film. Despite the greyness of that day, the importance of this single work of architecture was as illuminating as a bright afternoon.
