Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Thyssen Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is an art museum near the Prado Museum. It is known as a part of the "Golden Triangle of Art", which also includes the Prado and the Reina Sofía National Museum.
The Thyssen fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections. With over 1,600 paintings the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection.

The museum was opened in 1992 after an agreement was reached between the baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Spanish government.

The Building:

The Villahermosa Palace is one of the most important buildings in Madrid’s repertoire of palatial architecture. Its origins date from the early 17th century. During the 18th century this part of the city would gradually develop into the new court area opposite the Buen Retiro Palace. The Villahermosa Palace was abutted with the Palace of the Dukes of Béjar (the present-day Bank of Spain), on the corner of the Alcalá Street.

After its purchase in the late 18th century by the Dukes of Villahermosa, its halls hosted important intellectual gatherings. It was also the seat of Madrid’s Lyceum of Arts and Letters (one of the main cultural institutions during the Romantic period). In the 20th century when the building served as an annexe to the Prado Museum, and culminated in 1989 when it was turned into the headquarters of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.


The Collection:

Thyssen Museum Building Started in the 1920s as a private collection by Heinrich, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon (1875–1947). The collection was later expanded by Heinrich's son Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921–2002), who assembled most of the works from his relatives' collections and proceeded to acquire large numbers of new works to produce what is one of the world's finest private art collections.

The Old Masters were mainly bought by the elder Baron, while Hans focused more on the 19th and 20th century, resulting in a collection that spans eight centuries of European painting, without claiming to give an all-encompassing view but rather a series of highlights.

One of the focal points is the early European painting, with a major collection of trecento and quattrocento (14th and 15th centuries) Italian paintings by Duccio, and his contemporaries, and works of the early Flemish and Dutch painters like Jan Van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, and Hans Holbein. Other highlights include works by the most famous Renaissance and Baroque painters, including Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo, Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck, Murillo and Rembrandt. Also important for the Museum's collection are Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by artists like Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Vincent Van Gogh, as well as twentieth century masterpieces, like a Cubist work by Picasso or late works by Piet Mondrian and Edward Hopper.


Directions:

       Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
       Palacio de Villahermosa. Paseo del Prado, 8
       28014 Madrid
       Phone: +34 91 369 01 51
       mtb@museothyssen.org
       http://www.museothyssen.org/

    Openings Times:
       The permanent collection is open:
          Mondays from 12:00 h to 16:00 h.
          Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 h to 19:00 h.

    Special Openings:
       The temporary exhibitions may have other different hours. For more information click here: Thyssen's hours

    Closed:
       The Museum is closed on 1 Jan, 1 May and 25 Dec.
       Opening hours on 24 and 31 Dec are 10:00 h to 15:00 h.

    More info about the Ticket Prices: Click Here

Subway transportation:
    * Line 1 - Atocha station.


Thyssen Location