THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA NATIONAL MUSEUM: A TRIBUTE TO THE 100TH BIRTHDAY OF ITS FOUNDER

     The museum, which now belongs to the Spanish state, has promoted a series of activities that echo the Baron's vision of art: the conviction that it has the capacity to form free people and, therefore, to change the world. Along these axes, the museum inaugurated the exhibition Thyssen-Bornemisza Family Collection Treasures, a group of twenty artworks belonging to the Baron's heirs after his death. The art pieces brought together consist of a series of 16th and 17th century German and Dutch gold and silverware, two sculptures from the Renaissance, three glass carvings from the Italian Baroque period and a series of 17th century oil paintings.

     In addition, the museum also inaugurated Lucian Freud: Portraits of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza. As the title suggests, the exhibition displays a series of portraits that the German-British artist painted of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. These were painted between 1981 and 1985, and are not only magnificent works of art, but also demonstrate the close relationship the Baron had with the artists of his time.

     These two exhibitions, which opened on 12 and 13 of April respectively, are a continuation of an immense exhibition that the National Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza has been staging in homage to its founder and patron.

    With regard to the museum’s programme, it is worth highlighting three future exhibitions that will open at the end of April, May and October. Firstly, the exhibition dedicated to Georgia O'Keeffe. In an unprecedented retrospective in Spain, the museum will present a solo exhibition devoted to the artistic production of the American artist, a benchmark in modern American art. Conceived as a journey through the entire career of Georgia O'Keeffe, around 90 artworks produced from 1910 onwards will be on display. An exponent of abstraction, the exhibition will be a unique opportunity to get to know the work of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

     The other two exhibitions —Claudia Comte. After Nature and Walid Raad. Cotton Under My Feet—, on the other hand, are the result of a collaboration between the museum and the TBA21 foundation, founded by Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza and directed by Carlos Urroz. Both exhibitions, the first opening on May 11 and the second on October 13, are part of the st_age project, a digital platform created by the foundation during the pandemic to give visibility to long-term research by contemporary artists.