The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is an iconic museum devoted to a wide variety of forms of art. The most notable are the works falling under the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern styles, as well as a variety of contemporary pieces. The building itself, designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is also seen by many art observers and enthusiasts to be part and parcel of the museum. Designed to mimic the appearance of a seashell, visitors are meant to take an elevator to the top and slowly wind their way down, like walking through the chambers of a spiral conch. This organic experience complements the experience of the geometric, fluid, abstract nature of the art held within, which is an experience few should miss when considering which locations to visit on their New York Museums list. There are five Guggenheim collections in all, all over the world, but the New York City location is considered the most comprehensive. Uninhibited by the traditional expectations of what a museum should look like or contain, the Guggenheim is truly a one of a kind location, set in the heart of the Upper East Side.

Located along the Museum Mile east of Central Park along Fifth Avenue, the Guggenheim has the proud distinction of being part of one of the densest configurations of culture and artifacts in the world. Fifth Avenue between 82nd St. and 110th St. contains eleven full-size NY museums, each with its own focus, collection, and scope. The Solomon Guggenheim Museum is located at the intersection of 88th St. and Fifth Avenue, right in the middle, near such luminaries as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Neue Galerie New York, and the Jewish Museum. Visitors traveling to this New York museum by subway can take the 4, 5, or 6 train to the 86th St. station. If you're traveling by car, park at the lot at E. 89th St. between Madison Ave. and Park Ave., but keep in mind that driving through Manhattan can often be a big headache.

A wide variety of artists are showcased at the Solomon R Guggenheim museum, from Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre August Renoir to early Modernists such as Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Wassily Kandinsky, Hilla Rebay and Piet Mondrian, among others. This important period in art history, when art ceased being about mere representation and instead became more of a study in perception, is enshrined within these museum walls. The Solomon Guggenheim museum is far from being a stale location, as its collection is constantly being molded and shaped by new work produced in the vein of the existing works within. For this reason, the art on the walls of this New York museum isn't arranged by when it was created or what art history movement it fell under. Instead, all the work is taken as a coherent whole, in communication with the artwork produced by contemporary artists as well as with all the other pieces within. Furthermore, because there are five Guggenheim locations around the world, art can easily be transferred between them, making each location a fluid collection of work.

In addition to a vast and growing permanent collection, the Guggenheim houses regular exhibitions of specific topics, artists and themes from within the art world. These may include works by contemporary artists, studies of particular luminaries from the past, or a re-envisioning of a certain time period in European art. Unlike many other locations on a New York museums list, the Solomon Guggenheim collection tends to consist solely of art by Western artists, either from Europe or from the United States. Upcoming exhibitions focus more on contemporary new artists than on the masters of old.

Visitors to the Solomon R Guggenheim museum should feel free to post pictures, responses and videos up on NYC Museums regarding their time at this iconic location or at any other NY museums. Stories and reviews are welcome, as are any reactions you might have had to the architecture and work within. User content is what makes the NYC Museums community great, and we eagerly await what you have to say, whether it's a description of your favorite painting, a set of photographs of the seashell building, or the story of your day out.