Modern Art

So, continuing our series of lectures on Modernism, we now turn to architecture and, in particular, to the work of Frank O. Gehry. Now, I'm not going to go into his career in detail; it is enough to say that early on he was, like other modernist architects, tied to the rectangle, the straight line, and so on. Often their buildings would have this basic shape and they would just, urn..., add bits of decoration like splashes of color or pointless balconies. Soon enough, Gehry wanted to break away from straight lines and grid-like designs. He wanted the freedom to experiment with other shapes, curves, and unusually-angled roofs. What helped him with this was the computer, which allowed him to visualize and experiment with complex shapes, and to work on the whole design as one piece, without the added decoration being thrown in as an afterthought. Architecture as art, if you like ... or, or sculpture even. He himself said that he had struggled with crossing the line between architecture and sculpture. Now, I want to talk about one building in particular ... urn ... the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which I think you'll agree is a masterpiece.