Programa de exposiciones 2026 en el Museo Guggenheim Bilbao

El Museo has received 476,795 visitors to date, 29% more than the forecast for this period and 5% more than the same date in 2024

The programming of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 2026 will include monographic exhibitions dedicated to artists Ruth Asawa, Jasper Johns, Steve McQueen, and Dan Flavin, as announced at the meeting of the Board held this Tuesday.

The Board of the Foundation of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, and with the attendance of the General Deputy of Bizkaia and president of the Executive Committee of the Foundation, Elixabete Etxanobe, the first vice-lehendakari and Minister of Culture and Linguistic Policy of the Basque Government, Ibone Bengoetxea, the provincial deputy for Basque, Culture and Sports, Leixuri Arrizabalaga, and the Mayor of Bilbao, Juan María Aburto.

Also in attendance were Jon Azua, representative of the Basque institutions on the Board of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; the emeritus director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Juan Ignacio Vidarte, representatives of the companies and entities that are part of the highest governing body of the Foundation, as well as the directors of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation & Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Mariët Westermann and Miren Arzalluz, respectively, the latter in her first meeting since joining in April.

During the meeting, the Board was presented, in a preliminary manner, with the exhibition projects that the Museum is working on for 2026. Among them are four monographic exhibitions dedicated to «significant» modern and contemporary artists.

The first of these will explore the work of the American artist Ruth Asawa, one of the «most gifted and prolific» creators who emerged in the US after World War II. This will be followed by a retrospective on Jasper Johns, an artist who «not only renewed the American plastic scene of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s but was also a source of inspiration for his contemporaries and for new generations of younger artists with very different aesthetic tendencies,» noted from the Guggenheim.

In October, there will be an exhibition featuring Steve McQueen, an artist, filmmaker, and screenwriter who explores «universal themes and harsh biographies primarily through moving images.»

Finally, the retrospective on one of the main representatives of Minimalism, Dan Flavin, will open in November as one of the exhibitions from the important holdings of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum that are presented to the public in Bilbao biennially.

On the other hand, the programming of the Film & Video room, dedicated to moving images, will feature artist Pipilotti Rist with a video installation where «the poetic atmosphere will immerse the viewer in a sort of magical realism,» as advanced by the Bilbao museum.

In addition, the recently inaugurated ‘in situ’ series presents works created specifically for a specific space within the Museum, pieces that «activate the architecture or coexist in harmony with the unique characteristics of the emblematic room of the Museum,» and will present projects by Igshaan Adams and Zadie Xa.

Finally, a new rotation of works from the Own Collection, which will open in the last quarter of 2025, will be led by a selection of pieces recently added to the Collection, as well as others from the donation of the D. Daskalopoulos Collection or the long-term loan from the Rodenstock Collection.

VISITORS

The meeting began with a review of the Museum’s activity, which has received 476,795 visitors to date, 29% above the budgeted figure for this period, 5% more than the total accumulated by that date in 2024, and 7% more than in 2023, the year with the highest influx of visitors in the history of the museum.

Regarding the geographical origin, 63% of the public came from abroad, with France standing out at 15%, followed by countries like the United Kingdom and Germany. Of the 37% of visitors from the State, 16% come from the Basque Country.

Regarding the Community, the community around art and culture that brings together Friends, Followers, and beneficiaries of the Erdu Program, among others, the total number of members has continued to grow in 2025, surpassing 374,782 people, almost 30,000 more than at the end of 2024.

12.26% of the new Friends registrations generated so far in the year were previously Followers of the Community, thus reinforcing their commitment to the institution, which, at the time of writing this report, has 24,281 Friends, as highlighted by the museum.

On the other hand, the commitment of the business world to the Museum has increased significantly in the first five months of the year, adding 10 new members for a total of 139 members of the Corporate Members Program.