Guggenheim Bilbao's 28-Year Director Vidarte Steps Down With Record Visitor Numbers

Juan Ignacio Vidarte is leaving the Guggenheim Bilbao at the end of the year, stepping down after twenty-eight years as the only director the museum has ever known. He is sixty-eight years old, a Bilbao native, and he is departing on a high note: last year the museum welcomed 1.324 million visitors, a record, and this year is on track to surpass it. The staff will miss him. Several employees mentioned, unprompted, that he could stay—the museum is thriving—but he is choosing to leave to make room for the next generation. It is, they said, an act of generosity.

Vidarte arrived at the project in its infancy. He was there for the initial conversations, then asked to manage the construction and planning. When the building was nearly complete, in 1996, he was asked to stay on as director. He has been there ever since, watching the museum open in 1997 and grow into one of the world's most visited art institutions. When asked if he is a one-club man—a reference to Athletic Bilbao's famous loyalty—he laughed and said yes, something like that. He is part of the project from the beginning, and each decision led naturally to the next.

He first considered stepping down in 2017, at the twenty-year mark. He felt it was time for a new chapter. But the thought lingered, and then the pandemic arrived. In March 2020, the museum's revenue collapsed seventy percent overnight. Vidarte and his team had to improvise, to stretch resources, to find flexibility they did not know they had. He remembers it as difficult but also formative. The closure was mercifully short compared to museums in the United States. By 2022, visitor numbers had recovered and exceeded pre-pandemic levels. The crisis, he said, forced the institution to grow.

When the pandemic ended, Vidarte returned to the idea of leaving. He planned to announce his departure in 2022, but Richard Armstrong, director of the Guggenheim in New York, was also stepping down around the same time, and it did not make sense for both to leave simultaneously. So Vidarte waited. Now, in 2024, the timing is right. His head tells him it is the correct decision. His heart wants to stay. But he knows it is time.

The museum's impact on Bilbao itself is difficult to separate from the city's broader transformation. In 1989 and 1990, Bilbao was in economic freefall. Industrial restructuring had devastated the economy. In 1991, ETA killed forty-six people. Unemployment on the left bank of the Nervión River reached forty-six percent. A collective diagnosis emerged: the Bilbao of the future could not resemble the Bilbao of that moment. The Guggenheim became central to that vision, but it was not alone. The metro system was built. The river was cleaned. Urban renewal happened across multiple fronts. The museum pulled at the threads of a larger plan, but it did not weave the entire tapestry by itself.

When asked to define his legacy, Vidarte hesitated. He said he would like to think he helped make possible a project that was clearly envisioned thirty years ago—that he translated an idea into reality. The programming they developed, the collection they built, the institution that now runs at full throttle. But he emphasized that he played one role among many. There is a whole team behind him.

His favorite work in the museum is Richard Serra's "The Matter of Time," the enormous labyrinthine steel structure that occupies its own gallery. His favorite spot is a hidden terrace on the third floor, tucked between architectural volumes, with a view of the atrium that takes your breath away. He does not dwell on exhibitions that got away, on opportunities missed. Doors always open elsewhere. Sometimes a failure clears the path for something you would never have done otherwise.

Vidarte will remain connected to the museum after his departure, serving as director emeritus and head of global strategy for the Guggenheim Foundation. The search for his successor is underway. An announcement is expected by late autumn. When asked what advice he would give the next director, he was clear: be faithful to the museum's objectives and values. Be uncompromising about the mission—to remain relevant at an international level, to transform the community, to commit to the highest quality. That is what matters.