A commission in 1943
In June 1943 Frank Lloyd Wright was hired to design a permanent home for the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, which Hilla von Rebay had directed since 1939. Over the next 15 years he made more than 700 sketches and six sets of working drawings.
A ramp around a void
Wright’s main gallery is a six-storey spiral ramp around a central atrium, lit from above by a skylight. The ramp is a quarter of a mile long and climbs steadily at a gentle incline of three degrees.
Opening in 1959
Work on the building began on 14 August 1956. Wright died in April 1959, and the museum was dedicated six months later, on 21 October 1959.



