Thyssen Baroness might give the MNAC between 600 and 700 paintings from her collection

Girona (ACN).- The Thyssen Baroness, who is the owner of one of the world’s greatest private painting collections, stated she might give Catalonia’s National Museum of Art (MNAC) between 600 and 700 paintings from her collection. Carmen Thyssen stated “it would be a dream” to have her collection in Barcelona, although “it is still early” to make an official announcement and unveil any details. Nonetheless, Thyssen reiterated that she has an “excellent” relationship with the Barcelona-based museum, which already shows a small selection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. The Thyssen Baroness gave those hints while unveiling an exhibition made up of 51 paintings from her collections at Girona’s CaixaForum, sponsored by Barcelona-based ‘La Caixa’ bank. The exhibition ‘Rusiñol, Monet, Gauguin, Sunyer. Els paisatges de Carmen Thyssen’ (‘Rusiñol, Monet, Gauguin, Sunyer. Landscapes in Carmen Thyssen’s Collection’ in English) shows paintings from these masters as well as from Joan Miró, Joaquim Mir, Antoni Tàpies, Modest Cuixart, Théodore Rousseau, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse, among others. The exhibition aims to show the evolution of Catalan and European painting of landscapes, establishing a dialogue between paintings from the same periods. The exhibition shows the links between Catalan and European paintings from the late 19^th to the late 20^th centuries.

In the last months, the Thyssen Baroness and the MNAC have been negotiating the showing of a large part of her collection in Barcelona, in Montjuic. According to the Baroness’ latest statement, the talks seem to be reaching a final agreement, although “it is still early” to make any announcement. However, Carmen Thyssen emphasised “it would be a dream” to show part of her collection “in her city, Barcelona”. Thyssen said she “believed we would be talking about some 600 or 700 paintings, although the experts would be those making the final selection”. The paintings might come from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, other museums, and some warehouses, where part of the collection is stored.