Even from the museum's very first publication in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Painting could not fit in one volume. Cataloguing the museum's complete holdings in print has never been an easy task, but it is still a crucial one. Through the decades the Guggenheim has regularly published guides to its ever-growing collection, yet these books don't just revisit the same material. Each new guide to the museum's collection has taken its own selected focus—and used the opportunity to explore the permanent collection's depth and not merely showcase its greatest hits.

Titles have been dedicated, for instance, to the private collections that comprise the core of the collection, donated by prominent collectors like Heinrich Thannhauser and Peggy Guggenheim. Other publications investigate specific mediums, historical periods, single artists, or special commissions. The museum has even presented its collection alphabetically. As the permanent collection continues to grow, the museum never stops exploring new ways to document it, in print and now online, to keep bringing the art to life.

Drawings by Peter Sweeny based on Gwathmey Siegel and Associates Architects' drawings.