The extraordinary success of Bilbao soon brought Gehry a large number of commissions from museums and exhibition spaces, leading him to explore new directions rather than plagiarize or pastiche his own work.
This led him to reflect on museum space, particularly exhibition galleries, and to rethink the organization of several major institutions, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Museum of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Unsuccessful competitions, such as that for the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, saw him propose ideas that challenged the very notion of a monumental place of culture.
In Paris, where he had created an American Center that was somewhat timid in its engagement with the city, the Fondation Louis Vuitton gave him the opportunity to imagine spaces that were both covered and open to the city.
