Frank Gehry, a visionary with an incredible legacy

Week 49's colours are Purple Blue, Punch, Fuscia and Buttercream

Last week saw the passing of one of the most influential architects of the modern era at the age of ninety six.

Frank Owen Goldberg, better known as Frank Gehry (1929-2025) was born in Toronto, Canada and studied architecture at the University of Southern California then city planning at Harvard. He established his own architectural practice in Los Angles and it was there in 1978 that he completed the renovation of his own Santa Monica home, much to his neighbours disgust. With unconventional angles, corrugated metal and chain-link fencing, this was a turning point that would establish his reputation as an architectural innovator and disruptor willing to challenge established design principles.

Such was his eventual fame that Gehry once appeared in The Simpsons, where he designs the new Springfield opera house simply by scrunching up a letter that Marge Simpson has sent to his Santa Monica address.

In reality, Gehry’s breakthrough came with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain which was completed in 1997. This titanium clad structure transformed the whole city from a struggling industrial one into an international cultural destination. It was a gamble: a month before it’s opening Gehry visited his almost complete building and said “I went over the hill and saw it shining there. I thought: ‘What the f*** have I done to these people?’”.

Critics were kinder and the building was an incredible success, coining the phrase the Bilbao Effect. Other landmark projects included the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dancing House in Prague and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Gehry was at the forefront of computer-aided design which enabled him to create complex curvilinear forms that appear organic yet remain structurally sound and functional.

Over the course of his long career, Gehry received the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1989) and probably every other major honour in the field. Although his visions will long generate debate, with critics questioning the focus on form over function, he leaves behind an incredible legacy across multiple continents.

Take a look at some of his sketches transformed into buildings here. There are more photographs of Gehry buildings here and his obituary here.

Oh, and of course you can watch him in The Simpsons here.

Colours this week are taken from MOPOP in Seattle where three thousand panels, together consisting of 21,000 individually cut and shaped stainless steel and painted aluminium shingles cover the exterior, responding to ambient light conditions. Read more about it here.

‘Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)’, Seattle USA, designed by Frank Gehry, opened 2000

Colour Combination

The colours this week are Purple Blue, Punch, Fuscia and Buttercream. Use the colours along with a contrasting dark and neutral light colour to create an artwork in any medium or style. Share this post with someone who likes colour and might enjoy a weekly dollop of colour and creativity.

It is fun to see what you create with the prompts, thank you for sharing your creations. If you’re posting on Instagram, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod and join us in the private Facebook group Creative Prompts.

Limited availablity: Colori Flori Summit

The Colori Flori Summit 2025 took place in May and is now available again for a limited time period.

Along with thirteen other artists, we each put together a lesson focussed on florals and using a limited colour palette.

Registration is only open until Xmas and the Summit comes with lifetime access. There’s also an option to send the Summit to someone you love as a gift, ideal if you’re short of ideas for that perfect present. Find out more here

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