Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza’s collection has occupied a mansion set back from the Paseo del Prado since 1992. During his lifetime, the baron acquired artworks from major artists with the enthusiasm of a young boy trading baseball cards. Including works by Dürer, Caravaggio, Degas and Roy Lichtenstein, the collection will satisfy the most fickle of art connoisseurs.
Medieval Art
The first few rooms on the 2nd floor are home to medieval art, predominantly Italian, German and Flemish religious paintings from the 13th and 14th centuries. Highlights include Petrus Christus’ mysterious Virgin of the Dry Tree, in which Mary and Jesus stand out against a black background, illuminated in divine light; and Jan van Eyck’s The Annunciation Diptych, a monochrome masterpiece that looks deceptively three-dimensional.
Renaissance Portraiture
Turning the corner into Room 5, you encounter the instantly recognizable Portrait of Henry VIII by Holbein the Younger. Nearby is Juan de Flandes’ portrait of the king’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, still innocent of what she had in store! Among these early Renaissance works is Piero della Francesca’s exquisite Portrait of a Boy. But the real showstopper comes in Room 7 with the full-length portrait Young Knight in a Landscape. Misattributed to Dürer until a cleaning in the 1950s revealed Vittore Carpaccio’s signature, the gorgeously detailed composition is rich with symbols, many of which have yet to be decoded.
Dürer himself makes an appearance in the next room with Jesus Among the Doctors, painted during the German master’s second visit to Italy, where he made quite a splash. In this vaguely disturbing painting, he wows his audience with his technical mastery, placing many pairs of expressive hands at the center of the composition.
The Italians & the Spanish
Riding high on the crest of the Renaissance, sumptuous canvases by Venetian artists Tintoretto and Titian are displayed in Rooms 7 and 11, while right next door in Room 12, the ever-subversive Caravaggio wows with his naughty Portrait of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. Posed provocatively stroking a sword, the model for this religious painting was a famous courtesan. Two equally stunning paintings of Saint Jerome and the limp figure of the crucified Christ, illuminated against brooding backgrounds, show the clear influence of the Italian master on Spanish painter José de Ribera.
Dark drama also abounds in The Judgement of Solomon in Room 14. This is an enormous canvas by Luca Giordano, a Neapolitan painter who studied under Ribera before finding favor in the Spanish court, winning grand commissions such as the fresco in the Prado’s Casón del Buen Retiro. In Room 15, baroque Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán's portrait of Saint Casilda combines the brooding darkness of Caravaggio’s influence with a wonderful eye for detail, and it’s worth stopping for a moment to admire the gorgeous fabric of the saint’s dress.
The 17Th Century
In Room 17, the focus is widened with a collection of Canaletto’s views of Venice. His Piazza San Marco, taken from an unusually high angle with birds soaring around the Campanile (bell tower), is particularly uplifting. Precision-rendering of scenes goes up a notch with the exquisite Dutch art and Jan van Bronchorst’s portrait of a young man playing a lute in Room 23, setting the tone for the following four rooms. There are plenty of highlights, including Gabriël Metzu's The Cook in Room 25, Pieter Jansz’ charmingly disheveled church facade in Room 26 and Rembrandt’s rather sorrowful self-portrait in Room 27.
The 19Th Century
Downstairs on the 1st floor, a definite shift occurs as you move into the modern era. In Room 32, John Singer Sargent’s Onion Seller looks out from the shadows beside a window that gives a blurred but splendid view of Venice that presages the arrival of the Impressionists in Room 33. Here, Degas’ Swaying Dancer, with its dynamic figures rendered in luminous pastels, draws the crowds, though you shouldn’t miss his study of elegant women trying on sumptuous feathered hats right next to it. While the same room also has landscapes by Gauguin and Monet, Van Gogh’s dynamic canvases in Room 34 steal the show – don’t miss his Evening Landscape, in which thin trees waver like plumes of smoke against a blood-red sunset.
The 20Th Century
Venturing further, George Grosz uses cubist techniques to highlight the alienation of modern man in the spectacular Metropolis. Close by, Room 41 is dedicated to the boxy art movement, filled with paintings by Juan Gris, Braque and Picasso. Fans of Pablo will also want to look out for his Harlequin with a Mirror further on in Room 45.
After the cubists, the art displayed moves into abstraction with pieces by Mondrian, Miró, Klee and Kandinsky until you reach Room 44, where surrealists hold sway. Here, things get weird and wonderful with pieces by Magritte and Max Ernst, though its hallucinatory climax is arguably Dalí’s Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, One Second Before Waking Up.
American artists then make their mark, most notably Edward Hopper, in Room 45 – his lonely interiors, such as Hotel Room, still resonate to this day. Afterwards come bolder abstract works, including Jackson Pollock’s Brown and Silver I (Room 46) and the deceptively simple but strangely pleasing Untitled (Green on Maroon) by Mark Rothko (Room 47). Also of note are Joseph Cornell’s magical boxed compositions of found objects in Room 48.
Bringing things to a brilliant conclusion, the collection moves back into figurative art with Francis Bacon’s disturbing 1968 portrait of his doomed lover George Dyer in a Mirror (Room 49). Near the Bacon canvas, you’ll find Lucian Freud’s work, which includes a portrait of Baron Thyssen, the owner of this impressive collection.
The Baroness' Collection
Before leaving, don’t miss the Baroness’ collection, which begins in Room A with two stunning paintings by Canaletto and a Garden of Eden by Jan Brueghel the Elder, filled with detailed renditions of gorgeous fauna that eclipse the tiny, rather puny Adam and Eve in the background. The Baroness’ penchant for idyllic landscapes and soft, muted light is evident in the next rooms; among these, you’ll find Van Gogh in a pleasanter, less startling mood with his Watermill at Gennep in Room C. The same room also houses a rare Kandinsky crowd scene composed in notes of bright colors. Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian idyll of Mata Mua and Toulouse-Lautrec's dramatic The Jockeys compete for your attention in Room F. Further on in Room H are Pablo Picasso’s dynamic The Harvesters, Matisse’s tranquil vision of a Conversation Under Olive Trees and a trio of geese by Munch. However, the biggest treat comes towards the end in Room J with Georgia O'Keeffe's fantastic rendition of a New York Street with Moon.
