WHETHER descending the ramp of the old Guggenheim or struggling up the ramp of the new, one feels like a cross between Sisyphus and a pinball. Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece may indeed be a joy to look at, but it is hell to inhabit: the spiraling rotundity of the main structure wearies the limbs as it baffles the mind. Notwithstanding its much publicized reopening after two years of expansion and renovation, the Guggenheim remains entirely unsuited to our species in the present state of evolution.
On the outside all is well enough. The original museum, which had entered its fourth decade looking somewhat frowzy, is once again pristine. A new building, designed by Gwathmey, Siegel and Associates, rises up beside it, with cream-colored surfaces patterned into a delicately detailed grid. If anything, by concealing the buildings behind the museum, this new ensemble creates a more satisfying resolution than before.
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