The Thyssen is a museum created primarily from the private collection of a really rich family: The Thyssen-Bornemisza family. Back in the early 20th Century, the patriarch, August Thyssen, founder of a financial empire spanning the iron and steel industries, decided that he needed to collect some sculptures. He started off with some sculptures by Rodin: you know, the dude who created "The Thinker". His son and grandson continued developing the collection, in spite of some ridiculous family feuds (and world wars and economic difficulties) that threatened to break it up.
In the mid 20th Century, it became a traveling collection (because it had outgrown the Swiss villa in which it had been housed since the 1930s--clearly), and in 1988, faced with the desire to keep the collection together, Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza considered several bids to house the entire collection outside Swiss borders. The Spanish bid won out...mostly because of the awesome location of the building they intended to house it in (The Villahermosa Palace--right across from the Prado and very near the Reina Sofia), and because Hans Heinrich's wife just happened to be Spanish.
It's got artwork spanning the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, German Expressionism. Basically, this one family paid for the entire history of Western Civilization to be housed in their own private compound. And then, decided that they needed to share said history with the rest of the world.
The only thing I could think about as I was wandering about the Titians, Van Goghs, Monets and Picassos is the incredibly large amount of money that these people sunk into the artwork. I mean, it was beautiful, but dang....that's a lot of dinero.
I'd love to see it. I bet Owen would too, when he's older.
ReplyDeleteKathy W