Wender·Vista
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
on Fifth Avenue at 89th Street, facing Central Park

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

— — a spiral ramp under a skylight.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The white spiral on the Upper East Side, the one Frank Lloyd Wright spent sixteen years drawing and did not live to see opened. The continuous ramp climbs a quarter-mile under a glass oculus, with the art hung along the inner wall. October 21, 1959 was the first public day. Central Park is across the street.

from the studio
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
— bring it home

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum sits at 1071 Fifth Avenue at East 89th Street, on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building between 1943 and his death in 1959, and it opened to the public on October 21 of that year, six months after he died. The form is an inverted ziggurat: a single continuous quarter-mile ramp spirals upward under a glass oculus. The museum holds the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's collection of modern and contemporary art, with deep holdings in Kandinsky.

— informed by Wikipedia, Guggenheim
— the light

The rotunda is lit from a single oculus, a glass dome that crowns the spiral and pulls daylight down through ninety-six feet of open air. Wright laid the skylight as a webbed pattern of glass triangles, calibrated so the ramp walls catch even tone without throwing shadow across the work. Late afternoon in early winter, when the sun drops behind the Upper West Side, the light flattens to a soft grey and the white walls take on the colour of paper. Snow days do the same, an hour earlier.

— informed by Guggenheim architecture
— the visit

The museum opens daily except Wednesday, with hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and a late closing on Saturday evening. Standard adult admission is $30, with pay-what-you-wish on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The convention is to take the elevator to the top of the rotunda and walk down the ramp, following the slope as Wright intended. The building was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019 as part of a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings inscribed together.

— informed by UNESCO
— where
United States · Manhattan, New York City
— position
40.7830° N · 73.9590° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
at the lake
Central Park
city park
1 km S
Metropolitan Museum of Art
museum
1 km S
Neue Galerie
museum
1 km W
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
reservoir
N
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Central Park
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Neue Galerie
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the building, working on it from 1943 until his death in April 1959. It opened to the public on October 21 of that year, six months after he died. It was his only completed New York building.

October 21, 1959. The opening came six months after Frank Lloyd Wright's death and marked his last major commission. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation had first commissioned him in 1943.

A single continuous ramp spirals upward for roughly a quarter-mile under a glass oculus. Visitors typically take the elevator to the top and walk down, viewing the inner wall as the floor slopes gently away.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation collection covers modern and contemporary art from the late nineteenth century forward, with deep holdings in Kandinsky, Picasso, Chagall, and post-war abstract painting. Rotating exhibitions occupy most of the rotunda.

Yes. The Guggenheim was inscribed in July 2019 as one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings recognised together under the title The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The museum stands at 1071 Fifth Avenue at the corner of East 89th Street, on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Central Park is directly across Fifth Avenue, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is seven blocks south.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for that customer. The spiral is recognisable from almost any angle, and the artwork treats it as a form rather than a postcard. A Medium in a study or office reads as quietly informed.

The clean whites and structural curves of the building suit Mid-Century Modern, Minimalist, and gallery-white rooms. The stained-glass colour treatment also lifts a Maximalist wall of mixed framed art.

A single Large fits most sofas. A four-tile Mural carries the spiral across a wider wall. A nine-tile Mural suits a long console or a hallway with room for the eye to travel.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. The colour is held inside the ceramic surface and is unaffected by steam or splashes. Reserve Glossy for dry walls away from direct water.

A soft microfibre cloth with plain water handles everyday dust and fingerprints. No abrasive sponges, no ammonia-based cleaners. A drop of mild dish soap handles anything more stubborn.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is Reid Wender's interpretation of the place, drawn in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language. We are an independent family studio with no third-party licensing.

— if this one stayed with you

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