MUSEO CARMEN THYSSEN MÁLAGA

Inaugurated on March 24, 2011, the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga is housed in the Palacio de Villalón, a^16th-century building whose renovation has highlighted the Renaissance architecture of the city of Málaga. Organized on two floors around a central patio with arcades and colonnades, it aims to show the evolution of Spanish painting in the ^19th century, with a particular focus on Andalusian painting, the most complete in Spain today. Its permanent collection comprises a total of 230 works. The collection is divided into three main themes. The first, Romantic landscapes and costumbrists, shows how the Romantics were fascinated by a nature deemed sublime and imposing, and how Andalusia, with its flamencos, gypsies, bulls and processions, became the quintessential Romantic image of Spain. It even fueled a significant market for Andalusian-themed paintings, with figures such as Manuel Cabral or José and Joaquim Domínguez Bécquer. The second area, preciousness and naturalist painting, illustrates the transformation of artistic taste in the ^mid-19th century. Its smaller format, colorist bias, multitude of small details and smiling atmosphere ensured its growing success with a bourgeois market that was also expanding. The figure of Carlos de Haes allows us to see a parallel movement, a more realistic interpretation of landscapes, after his essentially Romantic vision. The third space shows how Spanish painting at the end of the ^19th century was to look openly at international painting, particularly through contact with Parisian bohemia. The result was a new radicalism embodied by Ramon Casas and Ricard Canals. The tour also includes a room dedicated to the great masters, including Zurbarán's Santa Marina. Extremely well laid out, the tour allows visitors to identify the evolution of tastes, points of view and styles, practically through their eyes. If you wish to explore each evolution in greater depth, we recommend using the audioguide. But both methods are interesting approaches. As is often the case, renovation work on the building housing the Thyssen Museum has uncovered Roman remains in its basement. But they are still in the process of being cleared for viewing.