Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Frank Lloyd Wright's building for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, completed in 1959 on Fifth Avenue across from Central Park in Manhattan, is one of the most immediately recognizable architectural works of the 20th century: a continuous spiral ramp rising inside a white concrete cylinder, lit from above by a glass oculus 90 feet across. The building itself is the dominant aesthetic experience of a visit — Wright conceived the interior as a continuous flowing space rather than a sequence of discrete rooms, and visitors traditionally ride the elevator to the top and descend the ramp through the galleries rather than climbing floor by floor. The permanent collection emphasizes non-objective abstraction through the 20th century: Vasily Kandinsky's progression from late Impressionism toward pure abstraction is traced through 150 works donated by collector Karl Nierendorf, making the Guggenheim's Kandinsky holdings the finest in the world. The Thannhauser Collection on the second and third floors includes Post-Impressionist and early Modern masterworks — Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Picasso. The museum's rotunda level hosts major temporary exhibitions that extend from the ground floor through the mid-levels of the ramp. Photography of the building's interior — the white spiral ramp, the oculus above, and the vertiginous views down to the lobby — is among the most distinctive architectural photography any museum in New York offers. Saturday evenings from 5PM to 8PM operate on a pay-what-you-wish basis, drawing a younger, art-oriented crowd and representing one of the best-value cultural experiences in Manhattan.