MADRID, SPAIN.- Tomás Llorens announced his intention to resign from the post of director of the Thyssen Museum to the Minister of Culture and Carmen Thyssen.

Llorens stated, “I am 68 years old and want to dedicate less time to management tasks and more to my family, to study and to write. I have been working fourteen years in management, but I always preferred to dedicate myself to study. I am currently working on a Catalogue Raissone of Julio González, I would like to write a book on the modern art period between the wars…and if I don’t start writing right now I won’t have the time. The museum currently has no problems that would make me take this decision, but I think it s the best time for me to leave it.”

Carmen Thyssen stated, “I was not able to convince him to stay. I am sorry about this because he has left a mark on the museum. He is the person that has done the most in Spain for temporary exhibitions.They have been very important. He has been able to comprehend the soul of the Thyssen Collection. Life turns another page of the book. It is terrible. My husband and I began with Tomás building this museum fourteen years ago. The news has been very hard for me. I have been crying. I am sorry to see him leave. We are lucky he will still remain at the museum as a patron. Our friendship with him will never suffer.”