THYSSEN BORNEMISZA MUSEUM - MALAGA

Last 20th of March Francisco de la Torre, Mayor of Malaga, and Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, signed an agreement to create a new Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in this capital of the Costa del Sol, Andalusia, in emulation of its big brother in Madrid, where the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum has been a principal and popular attraction for decades now.

In the year 2006 the negotiations began because in 2016 Malaga would like to aspire to the title of Cultural Capital of Europe. But the city also wants to gain respect as a cultural city and profile herself as a big city, trying to give its inhabitants European standard of urban quality.

Malaga 2016 Logo


The new Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum will be housed at the Villalón Palace (Palacio de Villalón), a very stylish building of 5,500 m2 over 5 floors, from the 16th Century at Compañía Street in old part of Malaga, where Mudejar ornaments were found which they are reforming now. These reforms had just been started because the idea was to house at this little palace the Museum of the History of Malaga (Museo de la Historia de la Ciudad).

Villalon Palace - Future Thyssen Museum Malaga


This building, visited by the Baroness in person last December, was of residential use till the 20th century when it was headquarters of various companies who reformed it quiet aggressively till how it is now. Paradoxically the false ceilings they installed favored the preservation of the original ceiling.

Baroness Thyssen visiting Villalon Palace


The project of the Thyssen Museum – Malaga will be realized with a part of the Baroness’ unique collection of Spanish paintings of the 19th and 20th century completed with artists from Malaga from the same era.

The Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection is created by the continuation of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection that had been housed in the museum with the same name in Madrid. The works of this amazing collection are basically Holland paintings from the 17th century, Veduta art from the 17th century, Naturalist landscapes of the 19th century, French as well as North-American, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and the first avant-garde from the 20th century, mainly German expressionism paintings.

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Madrid


The impressive collection Thyssen has been travelling all over the world, presented in Madrid since 1996, but shown in Shangai, Rome, New York, Lugano, Tokio, Mexico, Brussels and Bonn, and also in different Spanish cities.

The agreement between the Baroness and the city of Malaga implies a free loan of the works for 15 years, of which 133 works correspond to the Andalusia Collection and 225works at the Spanish Collection and of which some 40% were never shown in Museums before.

Work from Domínguez Bécquer


Within the paintings of the 19th century there will be an important representation of Romantic Paintings and works from artists who usually are not shown in public collections like Eugenio Lucas Villamil or Custom Painting like Cabral Bejarano, Domínguez Bécquer, García Ramos or Jiménez Aranda.

Work from Jiménez Aranda


Other artists from that century who will be presented are Zuloaga, Regollo, Joaquín Sorolla, Romero de Torres, López Mezquita, Jiménez Acosta y Gutiérrez Solana.

Work from Joaquin Sorolla


There will also be works from the 20th century signed by Juan Gris, Moreno Villa, Bores, Francisco Cosío, Evaristo Valle or Benjamín Palencia, and from painters from the late 2oth century like Gerardo Rueda, Saura, Úrculo or the Equipo Crónica, while the Baroque Era will be represented by Zurbarán’s “Santa Marina”.

Zubaran - "Santa Marina"


The deal between the two parties is one of the mayor cultural novelties of the city of Malaga, since the opening of the Pablo Picasso Museum - Malaga, an extraordinary museum of the mayor icon of the world of Contemporary Art.

It is even likely to think that Carmen Cervera, the baroness’ real name, was completely inspired by this museum to come up with her own museum. Anyway the idea that Malaga soon will have both museums makes the city definitively cultural and artistically capital of Andalusia.

Pablo Picasso Museum Malaga