Gehry rose to prominence in the 1970s with his distinctive style that blended everyday materials with complex, dynamic structures. Gehry's approach to architecture was described asdeconstructivist, though he resisted categorization. His works are considered among the most important ofcontemporary architecture in the 2010World Architecture Survey, leadingVanity Fair to call him "the most important architect of our age".[1]
Throughout his career, Gehry received numerous awards and honors, including thePritzker Architecture Prize in 1989, considered the field's highest honor. He was also awarded theNational Medal of Arts and thePresidential Medal of Freedom in the United States. Gehry's influence extends beyond architecture; he designed furniture, jewelry, liquor bottles, and other products.
Ephraim Owen Goldberg was born on February 28, 1929,[2] atToronto General Hospital inToronto, Ontario,[3][4][5] to parents Sadie Thelma (née Kaplanski/Caplan) and Irving Goldberg.[6] His American father was born in New York City toRussian-Jewish parents, and hisPolish-Jewish mother was an immigrant born inŁódź.[7][8][9] A creative child, he was encouraged by his grandmother, Leah Caplan,[10] with whom he built little cities out of scraps of wood.[11] With these scraps from her husband'shardware store, she entertained him for hours, building imaginary houses and futuristic cities on the living room floor.[6]
Gehry's use ofcorrugated steel,chain-link fencing, unpaintedplywood, and other utilitarian or "everyday" materials was partly inspired by spending Saturday mornings at his grandfather's hardware store. He spent time drawing with his father, and his mother introduced him to the world of art. "So the creative genes were there", Gehry said. "But my father thought I was a dreamer, I wasn't gonna amount to anything. It was my mother who thought I was just reticent to do things. She would push me."[12]
He was given theHebrew name "Ephraim" by his grandfather, but used it only at hisbar mitzvah.[13] In 1954, Gehry changed his surname from Goldberg to Gehry, after his then-wife Anita expressed concern aboutantisemitism.[14]
Gehry and his family moved to the gold mining town ofTimmins, Ontario, in 1937 but moved back to Toronto after facing antisemitism.[15]
In 1947, Gehry's family emigrated to the United States, settling in California. He got a job driving a delivery truck and studied atLos Angeles City College.[16]
Gehry stated,
I was atruck driver in L.A., going to City College, and I tried radio announcing, which I wasn't very good at. I tried chemical engineering, which I wasn't very good at and didn't like, and then I remembered. You know, somehow I just started wracking my brain about, 'What do I like?' Where was I? What made me excited? And I remembered art, that I loved going to museums and I loved looking at paintings, loved listening to music. Those things came from my mother, who took me to concerts and museums. I remembered Grandma and the blocks, and just on a hunch, I tried some architecture classes.[17]
Gehry went on to graduate from theUniversity of Southern California'sSchool of Architecture in 1954, where his professors includedWilliam Pereira.[18] During that time, he became a member ofAlpha Epsilon Pi.[19][20] He then spent time away from architecture in numerous other jobs, including service in theUnited States Army.[11] He moved his family toCambridge, Massachusetts in the fall of 1956, where he studiedcity planning atHarvard University'sGraduate School of Design using theGI Bill.[21] Gehry always expressed asocialist philosophy for architecture, something that was influenced by political views as he expressed a more leftist attitude to the world. These progressive ideas about socially responsible architecture were under-realized and not respected by his professors at Harvard, leaving him to feel disheartened and "underwhelmed".[22] Gehry's distaste for the school culminated after he was invited by his architecture professor to engage in a discussion revolving around a "secret architectural project in progress", which was ultimately revealed to Gehry as a palace that he was designing for Cuban dictatorFulgencio Batista.[6][23]
Gehry ultimately dropped out of his graduate program at Harvard University (where he studied urban planning) to start the furniture manufacturing company Easy Edges, which specialised in creating pieces withcardboard.[24][23][11]
He returned to Los Angeles to work forVictor Gruen Associates, with whom he had apprenticed while at USC. In 1957, at age 28, he was given the chance to design his first private residence with friend and old classmate Greg Walsh. Construction was done by another neighbor across the street from his wife's family, Charlie Sockler. Built inIdyllwild, California, for his wife Anita's family neighbor Melvin David, the over 2,000 sq ft (190 m2) "David Cabin"[25] shows features that were to become synonymous with Gehry's later work, including beams protruding from the exterior sides, vertical-grain douglas fir detail, and exposed unfinished ceiling beams. It also shows strong Asian influences, stemming from his earliest inspirations, such as theShōsōin inNara, Japan.[26]
In 1961, Gehry moved to Paris, where he worked for architect Andre Remonde.[27] In 1962, he established a practice in Los Angeles that became Frank Gehry and Associates in 1967,[11] then Gehry Partners in 2001.[28] His earliest commissions were in Southern California, where he designed a number of innovative commercial structures such asSanta Monica Place (1980) and residential buildings such as the eccentric Norton House (1984) inVenice, Los Angeles.[29]
Among these works, Gehry's most notable design may be the renovation of his own Santa Monica residence.[30] Originally built in 1920 and purchased by Gehry in 1977, it features a metallic exterior wrapped around the original building that leaves many of the original details visible.[31]
In 1989, Gehry received thePritzker Architecture Prize, where the jury described him: "Always open to experimentation, he has as well a sureness and maturity that resists, in the same way thatPicasso did, being bound either by critical acceptance or his successes. His buildings are juxtaposed collages of spaces and materials that make users appreciative of both the theatre and the back-stage, simultaneously revealed."[33]
Gehry continued to design other notable buildings in California, such as theChiat/Day Building (1991) in Venice, in collaboration withClaes Oldenburg, which is well known for its massive sculpture of binoculars.[34] He also began receiving larger national and international commissions, including his first European commission, theVitra International Furniture Manufacturing Facility and Design Museum in Germany, completed in 1989. It was soon followed by other major commissions including theFrederick Weisman Museum of Art[35] (1993) inMinneapolis, Minnesota; theCinémathèque Française[36] (1994) in Paris, originally the American Center in Paris;[37] and theDancing House in Prague (1996).[38]
From 1994 to 1996 several buildings by Gehry for a public housing project were realized in Goldstein, part ofFrankfurt-Schwanheim (1994). In 1997, Gehry vaulted to a new level of international acclaim[1] when theGuggenheim Museum Bilbao opened inBilbao, Spain. Hailed byThe New Yorker as a "masterpiece of the 20th century", and by legendary architectPhilip Johnson as "the greatest building of our time",[39] the museum became famous for its striking yet aesthetically pleasing design and its positive economic effect on the city.[40]
From then on, Gehry regularly won major commissions and established himself as one of the world's most notable architects. His best-received works include several concert halls for classical music. The boisterous, curvaceousWalt Disney Concert Hall (2003) indowntown Los Angeles is the centerpiece of the neighborhood's revitalization; theLos Angeles Times called it "the most effective answer to doubters, naysayers, and grumbling critics an American architect has ever produced".[41] Gehry also designed the open-airJay Pritzker Pavilion (2004) in Chicago'sMillennium Park;[42] and the understatedNew World Center (2011) inMiami Beach, which theLA Times called "a piece of architecture that dares you to underestimate it or write it off at first glance".[43]
Gehry's major international works include theDr Chau Chak Wing Building at theUniversity of Technology Sydney, which was completed in late 2014[49] and officially opened in February 2015. The A$180 million building, with its façade of more than 320,000 hand-placed bricks and glass slabs in "sweeping lines", was described as "10 out of 10" on a scale of difficulty.[50] Gehry said he would not design a building like the "crumpled paper bag" again.[51] Other of his projects include theGuggenheim Abu Dhabi onSaadiyat Island in theUnited Arab Emirates and theForma skyscraper project in his hometown of Toronto.[52] Other significant projects undertaken by Gehry such as a multi-decade renovation of thePhiladelphia Museum of Art were in the design stage. In October 2013, Gehry was appointed joint architect withFoster + Partners to design the High Street phase of the development ofBattersea Power Station in London, Gehry's first project there.[53]
Some of Gehry's more prominent designs failed to go forward. In addition to unrealized designs for theCorcoran Art Gallery expansion in Washington, DC, and a new Guggenheim museum near theSouth Street Seaport in New York City, Gehry was notoriously dropped by developerBruce Ratner from thePacific Park redevelopment project in the New York City borough ofBrooklyn, and in 2014 as the designer of theWorld Trade Center Performing Arts Center in New York City.[54] Some stalled projects showed progress: After many years and a dismissal, Gehry was reinstated as architect for theGrand Avenue Project in Los Angeles, and though his controversial[55][56][57] design of the NationalDwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, DC had numerous delays during the approval process with theUnited States Congress, it was finally approved in 2014 with a modified design.[58][59]
Also in 2014, Gehry was commissioned byRiver LA (formerly theLos Angeles River Revitalization Corporation), a nonprofit group founded by the city of Los Angeles in 2009 to coordinate river policy, to devise a wide-ranging new plan for the river.[67][68]
Gehry told the French newspaperLa Croix in November 2016 that French presidentFrançois Hollande had assured him he could relocate to France ifDonald Trump was elected President of the United States.[69][70] In December, Gehry said that he had no plans to move.[71] According to former Canadian prime ministerJean Chrétien, Gehry considered moving back to Canada after Trump was elected to a subsequent term in 2024.[15]
Trump and Gehry had exchanged words in 2010 when Gehry's8 Spruce Street, originally known asBeekman Tower, was built 1 foot (0.30 m) taller than the nearbyTrump Building, which until then was New York City's tallest residential building.[70][72]
Notable Gehry-designed buildings completed in the 2020s include theDwight D. Eisenhower Memorial inWashington, DC,[73] and theLUMA Arles museum in France.[74] In 2021, noting Gehry's progress on an increasing number of significant projects in his hometown, including the Grand Avenue Project, a concert hall for theYouth Orchestra Los Angeles, and an office building forWarner Bros.,The Architect's Newspaper stated that "Seventy-four years after he moved there from his native Toronto, L.A. is looking more and more like Gehry Country."[75]
Said to "defy categorisation", Gehry's work reflects a spirit of experimentation coupled with a respect for the demands of professional practice, and remained largely unaligned with broader stylistic tendencies or movements.[76] With his earliest educational influences rooted inmodernism, Gehry's work sought to escape modernist stylistic tropes while remaining interested in some of its underlying transformative agendas. Continually working between given circumstances and unanticipated materializations, he was assessed as someone who "made us produce buildings that are fun, sculpturally exciting, good experiences", although his approach might become "less relevant as pressure mounts to do more with less".[76]
Gehry's style at times seemed unfinished or even crude, but his work was consistent with the California "funk" art movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, which featured the use of inexpensive found objects and nontraditional media such as clay to make serious art.[77] His works always had at least some element ofdeconstructivism;[78] he was called "the apostle of chain-link fencing and corrugated metal siding".[79] However, a retrospective exhibit at New York'sWhitney Museum in 1988 revealed that he was also a sophisticated classical artist who knew European art history and contemporary sculpture and painting.[77]
Gehry described architecture as inherently sculptural, asserting, "I always thought that architecture was, by definition, a three-dimensional object, thereforesculpture."[80] This perspective reflected his commitment to blending artistic and architectural disciplines. Gehry's early work with sculptors influenced his experimental approach, which includes deconstructing traditional architectural forms and embracing ideas of flow and defamiliarization, akin toViktor Shklovsky's concept of "laying bare the device".[81]
Gehry's Jewish heritage and immigrant background shaped his architectural philosophy. He often reinterpreted traditional forms in ways that reflect hismulticultural experience. His works were described as embodying "a critique ofconsumerism" by defying expectations of luxury and focusing on creativity.[82]
Gehry was involved in exhibition designs at theLos Angeles County Museum of Art dating back to the 1960s. In 1965, Gehry designed the exhibition display for the "Art Treasures of Japan" exhibition at the LACMA. This was followed soon after by the exhibition design for the "Assyrian Reliefs" show in 1966 and the "Billy Al Bengston Retrospective" in 1968. The LACMA then had Gehry design the installation for the "Treasures of Tutankhamen" exhibition in 1978 followed by the "Avant-Garde in Russia 1910–1930" exhibition in 1980. The subsequent year, Gehry designed the exhibition for "Seventeen Artists in the '60s" at the LACMA, followed soon after by the "German Expressionist Sculpture Exhibition" in 1983. In 1991–92, Gehry designed the installation of the landmark exhibition "Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany", which opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and traveled to theArt Institute of Chicago, theSmithsonian Institution in Washington, and theAltes Museum in Berlin.[88][89] Gehry was asked to design an exhibition on the work ofAlexander Calder at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Resnick Pavilion, again invited by the museum's curator Stephanie Barron.[90]
In addition to his long-standing involvement with exhibition design at the LACMA, Gehry also designed numerous exhibition installations with other institutions. In 1998, "The Art of the Motorcycle" exhibition opened at theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum with its installation designed by Gehry.[91]
In 2014, he curated an exhibition of photography by his close friend and businessmanPeter Arnell that ran from March 5 through April 1 at Milk Studios Gallery in Los Angeles.[92]
In 1983, Gehry created the stage design forLucinda Childs' danceAvailable Light, set to music byJohn Adams. It premiered at theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, at the Temporary Contemporary, and was subsequently seen at theBrooklyn Academy of Music opera house in New York City and theTheatre de la Ville in Paris. The set consisted of two levels angled in relation to each other, with a chain-link backdrop.[93] The piece was revived in 2015,[94] and was performed, among other places, in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where it was presented by FringeArts, which commissioned the revival.[95]
In 2003, Gehry designed the scene for the American premiere of Janáček'sOsud at the Gehry-designed Fisher Center at Bard College.[96] In 2012, Gehry designed the set for theLos Angeles Philharmonic's opera production of Mozart'sDon Giovanni, performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.[97] In April 2014, Gehry designed a set for an "exploration of the life and career ofPierre Boulez" by theChicago Symphony Orchestra, which was performed in November of that year.[98]
In addition to architecture, Gehry made a line of furniture forKnoll and forHeller Furniture, jewelry forTiffany & Co., various household items, sculptures, and even a glass bottle forWyborowa Vodka. His first line of furniture, produced from 1969 to 1973, was called "Easy Edges", constructed out ofcardboard. Another line of furniture released in the spring of 1992 is "Bentwood Furniture". Each piece is named after a differentice hockey term. He was first introduced to making furniture in 1954 while serving in theU.S. Army, where he designed furniture for enlisted soldiers.[11][99][100]
In many of his designs, Gehry was inspired byfish. "It was by accident I got into the fish image", claimed Gehry. One thing that sparked his interest in fish was the fact that his colleagues were recreatingGreek temples. He said, "Three hundred million years before man was fish....if you gotta go back, and you're insecure about going forward...go back three hundred million years ago. Why are you stopping at the Greeks? So, I started drawing fish in my sketchbook, and then I started to realize that there was something in it."[101]
As a result of his fascination, the first Fish Lamps were fabricated between 1984 and 1986. They employed wire armatures molded into fish shapes, onto which shards of plastic laminate ColorCore are individually glued. Since the creation of the first lamp in 1984, the fish has become a recurrent motif in Gehry's work, most notably in theFish Sculpture atLa Vila Olímpica del Poblenou in Barcelona (1989–92) andStanding Glass Fish for theMinneapolis Sculpture Garden (1986).[102]
Gehry collaborated with luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Co., creating six distinct jewelry collections: the Orchid, Fish, Torque, Equus, Axis, and Fold collections. In addition to jewelry, Gehry designed other items, including a distinctive collector's chess set and a series of tableware items, including vases, cups, and bowls for the company.[103]
In 2004, Gehry designed the official trophy for theWorld Cup of Hockey.[104] He redesigned the trophy for the next tournament in 2016.[105]
He collaborated with American furniture manufacturerEmeco on designs such as the 2004 "Superlight" chair.[106][107]
In 2014, Gehry was one of the six "iconoclasts" selected by French fashion house Louis Vuitton to design a piece using their iconic monogram pattern as part of their "Celebrating Monogram" campaign.[108]
Gehry's firm was responsible for innovation in architecturalsoftware.[111] His firm spun off another firm called Gehry Technologies that was established in 2002. In 2005, Gehry Technologies began a partnership withDassault Systèmes to bring innovations from the aerospace and manufacturing world to AEC and developedDigital Project software, as well as GTeam software. The 3D modelling and project management features of this software were effective in implementing Gehry's novel and complex designs under budget. For example, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was completed for $3M less than its budget of $100M.[111] In 2014, Gehry Technologies was acquired by software companyTrimble Navigation.[112][113]
Gehry became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1951, several years after he and his family moved to Los Angeles.[114][115] He lost hisCanadian citizenship asdual citizenship was not an option at the time. Prime MinisterJean Chrétien restored Gehry's Canadian citizenship in 2002.[15] He lived inSanta Monica, California, and practiced out of Los Angeles.[116] Having grown up in Canada, he was an avid fan ofice hockey. He began a hockey league, FOG (for Frank Owen Gehry), in his office, and continued to play the game until around the age of 80.[117][14] In 2004, he designed the trophy for theWorld Cup of Hockey.[118]
In 1952, Gehry married Anita Snyder; in 1966, they were divorced.[2] In 1975, he married Berta Aguilera.[2][119]
Gehry was known for his occasional bad temper. During a trip toOviedo to accept thePrince of Asturias Award in October 2014, he received a significant amount of attention, both positive and negative, for publiclyflipping off a reporter at a press conference who accused him of being a "showy" architect.[120][121]
He was a member of the California Yacht Club inMarina Del Rey, and enjoyed sailing with his fiberglass-hulled yacht,Foggy.[122]
Gehry died from a respiratory condition at his home in Santa Monica, on December 5, 2025, at the age of 96.[119]
In 2014, Gehry co-founded Turnaround Arts: California, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that expands access to the arts in under-resourced public elementary and middle schools across California.[123][124] In addition to serving as a board member for the organization, Gehry served as a visiting artist with students.[125] He also served on the leadership council of theNew York Stem Cell Foundation.[126]
Gehry also donated his time to design projectspro bono. In 2014, he began pro bono work with the L.A. River Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit group founded by the city, to develop the LA River Master Plan.[67] In 2015, he unveiled his design, for which he waived his design fee, for the Children's Institute in Watts, an LA-based social services organization that provides services to families who have experienced violence and poverty.[127] The Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), which is an educational center and performance space that provides free instruments, music training, and academic support to students from disadvantaged neighborhoods, was also designed pro bono by Gehry and was completed in 2021.[128]
Gehry is considered one of the most influential figures in American architecture, and one of the most influential architects in the 20th century.[129][130]The Guardian, in their obituary, called Gehry "the most recognizable American architect sinceFrank Lloyd Wright", and stated that he "influenced the course of world architecture at least twice" with "his informal ad hoc aesthetic" in the 1970s and his use of computers in the 1990s.[129] He was called a "Titan of Architecture" byThe New York Times in their obituary of him and was credited for designing some of the world's most recognizable buildings.[119]The Los Angeles Times described Gehry as an architect who "transformed Los Angeles' urban landscape".[114] After his death,Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, said that "his unmistakable vision lives on in iconic buildings around the world."[131]
Gehry was said to have been one of the first architects to "grasp the liberating potential of computer design".[119] He was also the progenitor of the "Bilbao effect", referring to a museum that he built which revitalized the economy of the city ofBilbao.[40] TheBBC noted that Gehry's redesign of his own Santa Monica home using chain-link fencing, plywood and corrugated steel materials is what "built his daring reputation".[131]
The term "Bilbao effect" emerged in urban planning to describe the transformative impact of Gehry's architecture. His design for theGuggenheim Museum inBilbao revitalized the city, serving as a prime example of how architecture can drive economic and cultural renewal. The museum's dramatic curves and shimmeringtitanium panels are defining features of Gehry's style, emphasizing movement and fluidity.[40][132][133]
After the phenomenal success of Gehry's design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, critics began referring to the economic and cultural revitalization of cities through iconic, innovative architecture as the "Bilbao effect".[134] In the first 12 months after the museum was opened, an estimated US$160 million was added to the Basque economy. As of 2014, over $3.5 billion was added to theBasque economy since the building opened.[135] In subsequent years there have been many attempts to replicate this effect through large-scale eye-catching architectural commissions that have been both successful and unsuccessful, such asDaniel Libeskind's expansion of theDenver Art Museum and buildings by Gehry himself, the almost universally well-received Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the more controversialMuseum of Pop Culture in Seattle.[136] Though some link the concept of the Bilbao effect to the notion of starchitecture, Gehry consistently rejected the label of astarchitect.[85]
In 2004, Gehry voiced himself in an episode of the children's TV showArthur called "Castles in the Sky", where he helped Arthur and his friends design a newtreehouse.[137] He also voiced himself in a 2005 episode ofThe Simpsons, "The Seven-Beer Snitch", where he designs a concert hall for the fictional city ofSpringfield. He later said he regretted the appearance, as it included a joke about his design technique that has led people to misunderstand his architectural process.[138]
In 2006, filmmakerSydney Pollack made a documentary about Gehry's work,Sketches of Frank Gehry, which followed Gehry over five years and painted a positive portrait of his character; it was well-received critically.[139]
Gehry participated in the 1980Venice Biennale'sThe Presence of the Past exhibition, designing an architectural facade for theStrada Novissima installation.[144] He also contributed to the 1985 Venice Biennale with an installation and performance namedIl Corso del Coltello, in collaboration withClaes Oldenburg.[145] His projects were featured in the 1996 event,[146] and he contributed to the 2008 event with the installationUngapatchket.[147]
In October 2015,21 21 Design Sight in Tokyo held the exhibitionFrank Gehry. I Have An Idea, curated by Japanese architect Tsuyoshi Tane.[148]
Though born in Canada, Gehry lost hisCanadian citizenship in 1951 when he became anaturalized American citizen, asdual citizenship was not an option for either country at the time. He regained his Canadian citizenship in 2002 and took his citizenship oath inPrime MinisterJean Chrétien's office. According to Chrétien, Gehry considered moving back to Canada due toDonald Trump being elected.[15]
^abVerge, Stéphanie (July 2022)."Frank Talk".Toronto Life. p. 55:Gehry's a phony name—I changed it in 1954 because my ex-wife was worried about antisemitism and thought it sounded less Jewish.
^Miranda, Carolina (September 12, 2015). "A Gehry First: The architect sets his sights on Watts in a pro bono project that bridges his design skills and philanthropy. It was completed in 2022".The Los Angeles Times.
^Bernstein, Fred (August 11, 2021). "Frank Gehry Transforms a Former Bank Building in Inglewood for the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles: The project marks the latest pro bono gig for the starchitect".Architectural Digest. Condé Nast.
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