One of the most defining experiences of our stay in Madrid was a visit to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, where we spent long hours among the more than magnificent paintings. The richness of the collection and the diversity of the works completely captivated us, as almost every important period of European painting is represented within its walls. The elegant rooms of the museum and the tranquility emanating from the works of art provided the perfect setting to immerse ourselves in the world of the greatest masters in the history of art.
The history of the museum dates back to a very unique family collecting passion, founded by Baron August Thyssen Sr., a German industrialist, but carried out by his son, Heinrich, and his grandson, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. The family purchased the most important masterpieces over generations, creating one of the largest and most valuable private collections in the world. Baron Hans Heinrich’s aim was to keep the family’s paintings together and make them accessible to the public, so they sought a permanent location for the collection.
The collection’s arrival in Madrid is closely linked to Baron Hans Heinrich’s wife, Carmen Cervera, who was a former Spanish beauty queen and did much to ensure that the paintings were brought to Spain. The Spanish state finally acquired the collection after lengthy negotiations and opened the museum in the Villahermosa Palace in 1992. This Baroque-style building is located in the immediate vicinity of the Prado, making it one of the most important pillars of Madrid’s golden triangle of art.
The speciality of the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection lies in the fact that it fills in missing links in Spanish state collections, such as Italian primitives, German Renaissance, Dutch Baroque or modern Impressionist and Expressionist movements. The walls are lined with masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt, Degas and Monet, right up to modern works by Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein. The museum is therefore not just a collection, but a comprehensive journey through the history of human creativity, which has found a permanent and worthy home in the heart of Madrid.
