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Big day for culture in Spain: at 10.30 a.m. today, with Swiss punctuality, was signed in front of Gauguin’s ‘Mata Mua’, which arrived on Monday from Andorra and yesterday was hanging in a room of the Thyssen Museum, the lease agreement for the Carmen Thyssen Collection: 330 works are rented, for fifteen years, for 6.5 million a year for exhibition in the pinacoteca. Their rubrics were stamped by the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, as president of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, on the one hand; on the other, Baroness Thyssen and her son Borja. A signature that lasted for several minutes, given the volume of pages of the contract.
In the first row, the heads of the museum (Evelio Acevedo, managing director, and Guillermo Solana, artistic director); Guillermo Cervera, nephew of the baroness and general curator of her collection; Carmen, one of Carmen Thyssen’s daughters; Blanca Cuesta, wife of Borja Thyssen; the painter Mercedes Lasarte, a good friend of the baroness…
On the other side, some of the trustees of the Foundation. That’s right., no sign of Francesca Thyssendaughter of the baron and patroness of the museum. Also present were the baroness’s lawyers, Ángel Acebes and José María Michavila.
Opened the event Evelio Acevedo, who stressed that” it is a great day for the museum and for the Spanish cultural heritage”, because with the signing of this contract”the continuity of this valuable collection is guaranteed for at least fifteen more years”. He recalled that they had been provided free of charge since 2004. He then took the floor Borja Thyssen, patron of the museum since 2020: “Today has been a very special day, to get as far as we have come. Has been a long road with many difficulties. We have had discussions with different ministers over the past five years. But the most important thing is that today we have reached a stable framework, which gives a fifteen-year guarantee.” He thanked all the ministerial teams involved these years; especially the efforts of Miquel Iceta, ” because with his efforts he has closed this agreement that never seemed to close. «My father taught me to love art, but also to share it. My father wanted these two collections to be exhibited together. My father from heaven would be glad to see that what he intended has been accomplished.” He also praised his mother’s” excellent work “as a collector:”Thank you, Mom.”
An excited Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, who wore once more, as yesterday, mask of ‘Mata Mua’, stressed that “it is a very important day. For 21 years I have donated one of the best art collections in the world, valued at more than $ 1.7 billion. The ‘Mata Mua’ is back.” He recalled the names of the ministers with whom he has negotiated over the past five years: Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, José Guirao, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribe and Miquel Iceta. Also, those of the various secretaries of Culture who have participated in the negotiations. Like his son, he recognized that there have been problems and difficulties in reaching an agreement, but that he is very excited that the two Thyssen collections are united in Spain. When she remembered her husband, she was moved and the words barely came out.” He received a close applause.
The Minister of Culture, Mr. Liuhuabing, closed the event: “It is an important and exciting day. We are celebrating the contract, but above all celebrating a lifetime of accumulating works of art to make them available to people. We add to the efforts of Baron Thyssen the efforts of the Baroness and Borja Thyssen. We have today in Spain the honor and privilege of enjoying one of the world’s most important private collectionsorat least the most important one I know.” As the baroness did, Iceta believes that it is right to remember those who preceded her in the Ministry of Culture: Méndez de Vigo, Guirao and Rodríguez Uribe. “They had a lot to do with the happy ending of this firm. The culture in Spain from today is bigger, has greater international projection. We made sure that for fifteen more years, 330 works from the Carmen Thyssen Collection will join the museum’s permanent collection.” Iceta cited some of the great masters represented in these halls, who tomorrow they will open to the public. The minister also referred to Gauguin’s ‘Mata Mua’ behind him: “It expresses a symbol of something that no longer existed when Gauguin travelled to French Polynesia: it is a picture of nostalgia”. And he thanked the baroness for her efforts so that the painting would be in Spain on the day of the signing. “The Spanish cultural heritage continues to grow,” he concluded.
After signing, family photo before one of the four Rodin marbles, which Baron Thyssen’s grandfather commissioned from the French sculptor and which are part of the rental, and a few brief statements of the baroness to journalists:”It’s a wonderful, historic day. Finally. I’m still excited.. Especially for my husband. It was also very difficult to get him to have this wonderful museum here. For eight years we were both together fighting to get his collection free of the heirs and to bring it here. I have enjoyed a lot, together with Guillermo Solana, placing the collection. A collector never stops collecting when he can, it’s not easy. There are some works by my son Borja, which he has acquired in recent years and they are very good. Since childhood he has also been a collector. He has lived in Villa Favorita (Lugano) since he was one year old. He has been very prepared since childhood with that private museum.”
