Surrounding the Guggenheim between the Maritime Museum, Jardines de Albia, Colón de Larreátegui and Paseo Abandiobarra lies the Art District.

The area encompasses not only the Guggenheim Museum but also the Museo Bellas Artes de Bilbao and the Sala Rekalde, important art galleries as well as restoration workshops and old book-shops.

The area is filled with large-scale sculptures by famous artists. Look out for Puppy by Jeff Koons, giant spider Mamen by Louise Bourgeois, and Tall Tree and the Eye by Anish Kapoor.

It’s named Maman or mother after Bourgeois’ mother: ‘The Spider is an ode to my mother … spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.’

Anish Kapoor’s Tall Tree & the Eye. It consists of 73 reflective spheres anchored around 3 axes. Images of the surrounding city, the river and the museum itself are captured on their surface and forever moving, and are meant to be Kapoor’s way of reminding us of our unstable and ephemeral world.

The Bilbao Art District appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Bilbao!

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