Another new museum opened its doors late last week: The Baroness Thyssen Museum in central Malaga, Spain. It contains about 230 paintings owned by the Baroness (below), from her “private collection.” That’s as opposed to what her late husband amassed over his lifetime, much of which is on display in Madrid at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. It’s full of wonders by Old Masters, Impressionists and post-Impressionists, American Masters, and on and on.
Located in the 16th Century Villalon Palace, which was restored over the past two years at a cost of more than $18 million (plus more to extend the galleries into adjacent buildings), the new museum — aka the Carmen Thyssen Museum — displays works by Picasso, Miro, Sorolla, Fortuny, Zuloaga and other mostly Andalucian artists, according to several news reports. The museum has about 77,000 sq. ft. of space. Malaga’s mayor said he expects it to attract 200,000 to 250,000 visitors a year, according to Typically Spanish. It will also mount temporary exhibitions.
The collection has been lent, not given, and just until 2025. She has received some criticism for that, since the time period is quite short.
But this story includes a tidbit that’s more revealing than loan vs. gift — it’s about how the art world has changed and how inflated values have become. News reports have placed the value of the collection on loan to the Malaga museum at $950 million. But in 1993, the Baron’s collection of 700 works were sold to Spain for $338 million. In today’s dollars, that’s less than $520 million. So I guess Spain got a bargain…then.
Now, will the loan to the museum enhance the value of her paintings? Will she sell them to Malaga in 2025?
And yes, the Baroness does like her museums. She was responsible for convincing her late husband to sell his collection to Spain in 1993, she once had another building in Madrid for her own collection of European paintings, now there’s Malaga, and according to AFP,
Baroness Thyssen, a former Miss Spain and the baron’s fifth wife, said she also hopes to lend another part of his vast collection to another museum to be established in a monastery in the northeastern region of Catalonia.
These works are at present in the modern wing of the Thyssen Museum in Madrid.
I have not yet seen any review of the museum, just “press.”
UPDATE, 3/14: There’s trouble at the museum. According to The Independent, the museum’s director and a trustee have resigned because of “meddling” by the baroness and the mayor.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Solarpix / PR Photos