17 September - 17 October 2026
Richard Hamilton
The Solomon R Guggenheim, 1976
Richard Hamilton’s 1976 work The Solomon R Guggenheim (Metalflake and Silver/Gunmetal) depicts the spiralling form of the famous Guggenheim building in New York. This unique work, which bridges the conventions of painting and sculpture, is on show on Cristea Roberts Gallery booth at The Armory Show 2026, New York.
Richard Hamilton
The Solomon R Guggenheim (Metalflake and Silver/Gunmetal), 1976
Perspex form, vacuum-formed acrylic and silver metal flake spray paint
Overall: 58.8 x 59.3 x 9.7 cm - 23 1/8 x 23 3/8 x 3 7/8 in
1 of 20 unique colour variants
Overall: 58.8 x 59.3 x 9.7 cm - 23 1/8 x 23 3/8 x 3 7/8 in
1 of 20 unique colour variants
The museum’s façade was a subject Hamilton revisited in the 60s and 70s in his exploration of design aesthetics, architecture and technology.
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mid-1940s and completed in 1959, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum captured the attention of Hamilton following a trip to New York in 1963. The stacked, concentric spirals of the building seem to emanate from its centre, creating an illusion of movement within a static structure. Wright’s approach to architectural design and perspective fascinated Hamilton who sought to recreate not only the physical form of the Guggenheim in his reliefs, but also the principles underlying its construction.
The artist stated "It was an attempt to mirror the whole activity of architecture in the confines of a small panel."
Following a series of six large-scale fibreglass reliefs made between 1965 and 1966, Hamilton returned to the Guggenheim as a chosen motif for a series of vacuum formed editions, experimenting with scale, colour and methods of production.
The Solomon R Guggenheim (Metalflake and Silver/Gunmetal) belongs to a group of 20 variants, each complete with complex and unique colourways. The sprayed silver metal flake finish on this work produces a crystalline surface, recalling Hamilton’s interest in car styling and drawing together the aesthetics of automobiles with his architectural subject matter.
View this work at Cristea Roberts Gallery Booth 303 at The Armory Show, located in the Javits Center, New York from 24 – 27 September 2026.
Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now
Guggenheim, New York
until 10 January 2027
This exhibition, which features Guggenheim works by Hamilton, revisits the first museum presentation of Pop art in New York, presented at the museum in 1963. Historic works on view by Jim Dine, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and more detail the emergence of Pop art over fifty years ago.
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Get in touch if you have questions about works by Richard Hamilton
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Photo: Richard Hamilton spray painting The Solomon R. Guggenheim (Spectrum), 1965–6. Courtesy Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © 2026 the Estate of Richard Hamilton.
Photo: Installation view, Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to Now, June 5, 2026 – January 10, 2027, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.
Quotes taken from Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Among Americans: Richard Hamilton, in Mark Godfrey, Paul Schimmel and Vicente Todolí (eds), Richard Hamilton (London: Tate, 2014).