In the baron’s private collection

The beginnings seemed like an art thriller. At the end of the 80s, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen Bornemisza was looking for a new residence for his private collection, one of the most extensive and valuable in the world. Since 1936, most of this collection has been housed in the Thyssen palace, the Villa Favorita in Lugano (Switzerland). But Thyssen wanted to concentrate all the works of art acquired by him and his family, until now scattered around the world. To this end, he ordered a very ambitious expansion plan for his family residence, but the Swiss authorities refused to subsidize even a portion of the construction costs.

Thus began the competition between several European capitals. Margaret Thatcher invited the Baron to have tea, and Paris was also offered as a new headquarters. But suddenly Madrid appeared on the map, and the Spanish capital had something that neither the English nor the French could compete with: a wife, Carmen Cervera. The former Miss and fourth wife of the aristocrat established contacts with the socialist government of Felipe González who, for its part, presented the neoclassical Villahermosa Palace as a joint exhibition site for all the works in possession of Thyssen Bornemisza. A privileged place, directly in front of the Prado Museum

Madrid beat London and Paris and so since 1992 the Thyssen Bornemisza completes the series of large art galleries along the Paseo del Prado. With approximately 1000 works the collection covers a series of eras in history of art: Florentine and Venetian masters, the German Renaissance, Flemish landscape painting, French impressionism, German expressionism, Russian constructivism, etc. From van Eyck to Francis Bacon, the ideal complement to the Prado collection. Do you want to see one of the great European private collections?

Would you like to see one of Europe’s great private collections?

An idyll of art

The bust of a smiling gentleman. His head composed of roses and peonies, the sword in the shape of an iris, daisies like a lace ruff and cabbage leaves on the sleeve. What might seem like a surrealist work by Salvador Dalí is actually a mid-16th century Mannerist painting created by the Italian Giuseppe Arcimboldo for the Imperial Court in Vienna. It is titled “Spring” and is part of a series about the seasons.

This and other mysterious works are exhibited at the Royal Academy of San Fernando. A venerable institution founded under Ferdinand VI in the mid-18th century, which today has a fairly unknown but exquisite museum. One of the best collections of Goyas in the world and also works by Rubens, Zurbarán, Murillo and other masters.

But what the Royal Academy offers goes much further. These gems of painting can be seen in an almost intimate atmosphere far away from the tourist routes, an atmosphere that brings back to life the Bourbon 18th century.

Where the kings no longer live

though the royal family lives a couple of kilometers away in the Zarzuela Palace, the Royal Palace remains something of the nerve center of the Spanish monarchy. Our walk through this monumental 18th century building brings you into contact with frescoes by Giaquinto and Tiepolo, various works by Goya, porcelain cabinets, the Royal Armory, the collection of palatial Stradivarius – and endless royal anecdotes arising from these walls in the last 300 years.

Did you know that Charles IV had the main staircase relocated? Had they already told you that in the 19th century they tried to kidnap the young Queen Elizabeth II? And did you know what Napoleon Bonaparte said when he saw this palace for the first time?

There is a lot to tell in this building. And if you wish, you can combine a visit to the Royal Palace with a walk through the nearby Plaza de Oriente and Bourbon Madrid

Picasso, Dalí, Miró: Spain´s modern face

The setting is impressive: The permanent collection in a monumental and classicist building from the late 18th century, the General Hospital. Temporary exhibitions in Jean Nouvel’s equally impressive annex with its fresh steel and aluminum aesthetic. Pioneering design for pioneering artists of the 20th century: Picasso, Gris, Miró, Dalí and many others.

Did you ever want to admire Picasso’s pacifist cry “Guernica” up close? We tell you everything about its genesis, the personal circumstances and also the protagonists of this transcendental work. As fascinating as the very personal inner world of Salvador Dalí and the eternal question: is he serious or does he just want to provoke us? What events in his life do the grasshopper, the egg or the lion that sticks its tongue out at us in the “Great Masturbator” represent?

But in our journey through the 20th century, we will not stop at the greats of contemporary Spanish art. We also explore with you the small but no less interesting tributaries of the impressive river of art. The work of female Spanish surrealist painters in the 1920s. The “destruction of art” by Miró. The turn towards abstraction in the sad post-war period. The Spanish interpretation of Pop Art.

Come with us and we will show you the modern heart of Spain!