Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Occupying the Palacio Villahermosa across the road from the Prado, the Thyssen houses one of the greatest private art collections ever assembled. The original collection, spanning 8 centuries of European painting, was compiled by the German-Hungarian industrialists Barons Heinrich and Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, father and son. The younger Baron’s fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, a former Miss Spain, was instrumental in negotiating its acquisition by the Spanish state in 1993, and her own collection is now exhibited on the ground floor.
The museum contains some 1,000 paintings representing every major style and artist since the medieval period. Most visitors start on the top floor with the Italian Primitives and work their way down to the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, but the museum offers some interesting alternatives, suggesting itineraries based on key masterpieces or themes. Whichever way you cut it, you’ll see famous images at every turn: the Italian masters Titian, Tintoretto, and Caravaggio; Holbein the Younger’s instantly recognizable Portrait of Henry VIII; Canaletto’s Venice; the Impressionism of Manet, Renoir, and Degas; the cubism of Picasso, Braque, and Juan Gris; Jackson Pollock’s splashes and Rothko’s troubled blocks of color. Many of the Spanish greats are represented, from El Greco, Murillo, and Zurbarán to Goya, Dalí, and Miró, alongside German Expressionists and Flemish and Dutch heavyweights from Rubens and Rembrandt to Van Gogh.
Jostling as it does with the Prado and Reina Sofía, you get the sense the Thyssen must work harder than it might if located elsewhere. It rises to the challenge with imaginative offers, child-friendly activities, and well-designed apps to help you explore the collection. The cafeteria and museum shop are also first rate.
Occupying the Palacio Villahermosa across the road from the Prado, the Thyssen houses one of the greatest private art collections ever assembled. The original collection, spanning 8 centuries of European painting, was compiled by the German-Hungarian industrialists Barons Heinrich and Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, father and son. The younger Baron’s fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, a former Miss Spain, was instrumental in negotiating its acquisition by the Spanish state in 1993, and her own collection is now exhibited on the ground floor.
The museum contains some 1,000 paintings representing every major style and artist since the medieval period. Most visitors start on the top floor with the Italian Primitives and work their way down to the pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, but the museum offers some interesting alternatives, suggesting itineraries based on key masterpieces or themes. Whichever way you cut it, you’ll see famous images at every turn: the Italian masters Titian, Tintoretto, and Caravaggio; Holbein the Younger’s instantly recognizable Portrait of Henry VIII; Canaletto’s Venice; the Impressionism of Manet, Renoir, and Degas; the cubism of Picasso, Braque, and Juan Gris; Jackson Pollock’s splashes and Rothko’s troubled blocks of color. Many of the Spanish greats are represented, from El Greco, Murillo, and Zurbarán to Goya, Dalí, and Miró, alongside German Expressionists and Flemish and Dutch heavyweights from Rubens and Rembrandt to Van Gogh.
Jostling as it does with the Prado and Reina Sofía, you get the sense the Thyssen must work harder than it might if located elsewhere. It rises to the challenge with imaginative offers, child-friendly activities, and well-designed apps to help you explore the collection. The cafeteria and museum shop are also first rate.
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