Page 294 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

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3 Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

This magnificent museum is based on the collection
assembled by Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and his
son, Hans Heinrich, the preceding baron. In 1992 it was
installed in Madrid’s 18th-century Villahermosa Palace, and
was sold to the nation the following year. From its beginnings
in the 1920s, the collection was intended to illustrate the
history of Western art, from Italian and Flemish primitives, . The Virgin of the
through to 20th-century Expressionism and Pop Art. The Dry Tree (c.1465)
museum’s collection, consisting of more than 1,000 paintings, This tiny painted panel is
includes master pieces by Titian, Goya, van Gogh and Picasso. by Bruges master Petrus
Carmen Thyssen’s collection of mainly Impressionist art Christus. The letter 1
A hanging from the tree
opened to the public in 2004. It is regarded by many critics stands for “Ave Maria”. 2
as the most important private art collection in the world.
3
Hotel Room (1931) 4
Edward Hopper’s painting is a 7
study of urban isolation. The 5
solitude is made less static by the
suitcases and the train timetable 22 8
on the woman’s knee. 23 9
24
6
Key to Floorplan 25
Ground floor 26
First floor 40
Second floor 39
Gallery Guide Temporary exhibitions 27 28
The galleries are arranged around Non-exhibition space 38
a covered central courtyard, which 29
rises the full height of the building. 41 30
The top floor starts with early Italian art 42
and goes through to the 17th century. 31
The first floor continues the story with 43
17th-century Dutch works and ends with
German Express ionism. The ground floor 32
is dedicated to 20th-century paintings. 44 45 33 35

34
46 47 48

Portrait of Baron
. Harlequin with a Mirror Thyssen-Bornemisza
The figure of the harlequin was a This informal portrait
frequent subject of Picasso’s. The of the previous baron,
careful composition in this 1923 against the back-
canvas, which is thought by some to ground of a Watteau
represent the artist himself, is typical painting, was painted
of Picasso’s “Classical” period. by Lucian Freud.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp568–9 and pp591–3

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