When the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened to the public in 1997, it was immediately hailed as one of the world's most spectacular buildings, a masterpiece of the 20th century. Architect Philip Johnson described it as "the greatest building of our time", while critic Calvin Tomkins, in "The New Yorker", characterized it as "a fantastic dream ship of undulating form in a cloak of titanium", its brilliantly reflective panels also reminiscent of fish scales. Herbert Muschamp praised its "mercurial brilliance" in "The New York Times Magazine". "The Independent" calls the museum "an astonishing architectural feat".