Private visits – 19:30
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
News by Daniel Ackerman
The Thyssen-Bornemisza collection shines particularly brightly in areas which are under-represented in other Spanish museums. Two paintings from the Trecento (Italian 14th century), Christ and the Samaritan Woman by Duccio di Buoninsegna and The Annunciation Diptych grisaille by Early Netherlandish painter Jan Van Eyck, are the museum’s finest examples of late medieval art.
The museum also houses an exquisite collection of 15th century portraits, including one of Giovanna Tornabuoni by Ghirlandaio and one of Young Knight in a Landscape by Carpaccio. Works by Dürer, Caravaggio, Rubens, Frans Hals and Canaletto help us trace the trajectory of European art between the 16th and 18th centuries.
A visit to the museum offers a wonderful opportunity to study both landscape and genre art, two types of paintings that were particularly popular in the Dutch school of the 17th century and amongst 19th-century American artists. These paintings also inspired Romantic painters, such as Friedrich, Impressionists like Monet and Degas, and Post-Impressionists, like Gauguin and Van Gogh, all of whom are represented in the museum’s collection.
The museum’s ground floor houses a comprehensive collection of 20th century avant-garde works encompassing Fauvism, Expressionism, Surrealism and Abstract and Pop Art. Harlequin with a Mirror by Picasso, Kandinsky’s Picture with Three Spots No. 196, Dali’s Dream caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking up, The Cock by Chagall, Hotel Room by Hopper and Roy Lichtenstein’s Woman in Bath are just a few of the masterpieces on display.
HOW TO REACH TO THYSSEN MUSEUM
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is located very close to the Cibeles Palace and, therefore, the city center. It is located a few meters from the Spanish Congress.
Metro: Banco de España [Bank of Spain] (line 2-Red)
Bus: 1, 2, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 20, 27, 34, 37, 41, 51, 52, 53, 74, 146, 150.
RENFE: Atocha train station