In exchange, the Foundation agreed to manage the institution, rotate parts of its permanent collection through the Bilbao museum and organize temporary exhibitions.

Even before the Bilbao museum was announced, Mr. Krens was criticized for stretching himself, his staff and resources too thin.

The Bilbao museum, designed by Frank Gehry and being built now, is to open in 1996.

A model of the Bilbao museum, included in the exhibition, will enable viewers to compare the designs.

Sharply focused on the 20th century, it was designed by the Canadian-born Frank O. Gehry in a style as low-key as his Bilbao museum is flamboyant.

Even so, the Bilbao museum is famous for its inhospitability to art.

Almost diffidently, Mr. Gehry insists that the success of the Bilbao museum has not changed him much.

Cash flowed in from projects like the Bilbao museum, then was quickly spent to cover expanded costs and grander plans.

The striking use of titanium to clad the Bilbao museum has suggested to Mr. Broad that maybe Disney Hall's exterior should also be predominantly metal instead of limestone.

In one room Frank Gehry has designed an installation outlining his plans for the Bilbao museum, a series of soft-shouldered, interconnecting shapes arranged in a sort of artful pile.