In 1937, Solomon R. Guggenheim began to acquire a collection of abstract modern art.  Hilla Rebay assisted in the aquisition of this collection, and Wright was commissioned to provide a building for the collection.

Wright began to draw up plans for the museum in 1943.  Conforming to the New York building code presented many difficulties, and delayed the construction by many years.  The final design features a main gallery with a continuous spiral ramp.  The intent was for visitors to take an elevator to the top of the gallery, and then view the collection while walking down the ramp to the ground floor.  A skylight provides illumination, as do narrow horizontal windows which follow the descending ramp.  Construction was not completed until after Wright's death in early 1959.

In the 1980's an additional building was added to house the enlarged collection, this building can be seen behind Wright's museum in the picture above.  Other alterations were undertaken including covering the main gallery skylights; the main gallery was restored to Wright's intended design in 1992.

Additional photos (click thumnails for a full size picture):