English: Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications.

Designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, one of his many important projects was the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum in New York, which he designed as a spiral ramp for viewing avant-garde artwork. The Solomon R Guggenheim, commonly referred to as the Guggenheim, is one of Wright's most iconic projects and a key building of the 20th century. It was completed in 1959 and named an official New York City landmark in 1990, making it the youngest building to receive the accolade. Wright was tasked in 1943 by Solomon R Guggenheim – a wealthy American businessman and philanthropist – to design an unusual museum to host his growing private art collection, which included pieces by Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian. Aiming to break away from the traditional museum layout, which forced visitors to progress from space to space and then back through to exit, Wright designed the gallery as a continuous ramp. Measuring a quarter of a mile, it loops around a central large atrium topped by a huge domed skylight. In Wright's design, a lift would take visitors to the top of the building and then the long ramp that allow them to saunter back down. New York City provided a challenge for Wright. Unlike his past work, located in sprawling American Midwest or the desert, he felt that the city was over-populated, dense and lacking natural habitat. Finding solace in the nearby Central Park, the architect settled for the site in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and used the project to experiment with his style of organic architecture in a built-up environment. As prescribed by his philosophy, the Guggenheim bears an organic shape and its looping pathway has been likened to a nautilus shell. On the exterior, it is expressed by white reinforced-concrete bands, which widen towards the top. In early drawings, Wright described the shape as an "inverted ziggurat" – a reference to the stepped pyramids of ancient Mesopotamia in the eastern Mediterranean. A lower band wraps around both the main building and a smaller volume next to it, forms a canopy above the entrance. The second block was originally intended for apartments but is used as office space instead.

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