Encyclopaedic evolution of Western painting
In 1993, the Spanish state acquired the collection of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza for $350 million. The purchase became the cornerstone of this outstanding collection, which forms part of Madrid’s famed “Triangle of Art” with the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The addition of the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, on loan from the Baron’s widow since 2004, enlarges the presentation to nearly 1,000 works of art from the 13th century onward. Masterpieces abound from such giants as Jan van Eyck, Vittore Carpaccio, Albrecht Dürer, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Frans Hals, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Edward Hopper and Robert Rauschenberg. The museum also displays seminal works from movements not well represented elsewhere in Spain, such as impressionism, fauvism, German expressionism and the experimental avant-garde of the early 20th century.
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