Guggenheim Museum Reopens To Public After Months-Long Pandemic Closure
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum reopened Saturday, and art lovers say it feels like a long-awaited homecoming.
Stella Kim is an art enthusiast who brought friends Steve Goo and Hyun Jung Jeun to the Guggenheim Museum on reopening day, saying this is good for the soul.
"I feel like I'm back on track and back to my old life," Kim told CBS2's Dave Carlin.
With tickets reserved ahead of time and mandatory masks, they rounded the ramps and enjoyed the art with very few other people around, even though the event was sold out with the museum at 25% capacity.
"I'm more like a Guggenheim person than a Met person because I like the modern art better than the old art," Kim said.
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There are three major shows at the museum, including one featuring Jackson Pollock's largest painting, plus a sculptural exhibit called "Knotted, Torn, Scattered."
The biggest one is titled "Countryside, the Future," charting how definitions of what's country can change with modern innovations.
"The space has a great energy, a restful energy, restorative energy," said Trevor Tyrrell, senior director of operations for the Guggenheim.
"It's a really fulfilling experience," Harlem resident Faith Cummings said.
Cummings is making a point of getting inside all the major New York City museums as they reopen.
"I've done the Met, the Morgan Whitney, MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, now I've done this," she said.
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The timed tickets at the Guggenheim are new and there are other changes. Now, no food or drinks can be sold inside, and listening stations for some of the exhibits had to be disabled.
Happy visitors don't mind the adjustments, they are just glad to be back.
"The building only really becomes alive when people are in it, so to finally have visitors back, it was a very special moment," Tyrrell said.
The museum is open Thursday through Monday and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For more information, visit guggenheim.org.
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