Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza - Madrid
Address	Paseo del Prado, 8 . 28014 Madrid - España
Phone	91 369 01 51
Neighborhood	Las Cortes
Metro	Banco de España / Sevilla
Website	www.museothyssen.org

This (once private) fabulous collection of paintings is housed in the Palacio de Villahermosa (19th century) which was completely remodelled by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo specifically to house its nearly 800 paintings. In fact, this initially was a private collection started by Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza in 1920. Few yeras later, the Baron eventually sold his artwork to the Spanish government in 1993, the museum having been opened a year earlier. Madrid puchased the bulk of the collection for US$350 million in 1992; It had been valued in 1990 at US$2 Billion. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is considered the most impressive collection of art after the British Royal Family's collection.

The collection is exhibited in the Villahermosa Palace, an 18th century Neoclassical building on the same grounds as the Prado National Museum. The museum's permanent collection houses a vast range of work which features the English, Dutch and German schools from the 16th century, while also focusing on the more modern impressionists, expressionists and 20th century artists. The list of featured artists reads like a who's who of the art world, including Van Eyck, Caravaggio, Renoir, Degas, C�zanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Picasso, Rothko, Pollock, etc. This museum is divided into individual artistic movements, with a floor set aside for each of the major styles or groups. Hence visitors can move from Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque exhibitions through to a celebration of contemporary movements.

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