MADRID.- The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Mauritshuis in The Hague are simultaneously exchanging twenty-five outstanding works from their permanent collections thanks to a collaboration agreement between the two institutions. In Madrid, an exceptional collection of 17th-century Dutch masterpieces is on display, including Johannes Vermeer's View of Delft (ca. 1660-1661), brought together in the classical rooms, a new exhibition space in the museum, close to the rooms dedicated to this same school, thus offering a more complete view of that extraordinary and fruitful century.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza family's ties to the Netherlands date back to the early 20th century, when Heinrich (1875–1947) settled in The Hague after the Hungarian Revolution of 1919. It was in this city that Hans Heinrich was born and spent his childhood. In addition to the financial ties and business platform created there, he developed a passion for Dutch painting, one of the most brilliant chapters in his collecting career, which was started by Heinrich and continued by his son Hans Heinrich, who focused his early acquisitions in the 1950s on the Dutch masters of the 17th century. It was precisely Rotterdam that was chosen in 1959 as the city to launch the international tour to present his collection, and today the collection of 17th-century Dutch paintings is one of the museum's greatest assets, completing the Spanish museum scene in an extraordinary way.
The works from the Mauritshuis on display in the exhibition in Madrid encompass a chronological span that begins in 1615 and ends in 1705.
The 25 paintings are displayed thematically over three rooms. The first space is devoted to still lifes and genre paintings, with works by Ambrosius Bosschaert, Jan Baptist Weenix, Adriaen Coorte, Pieter van Anraadt, Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Abraham van Beyeren, Pieter Claesz, Nicolaes Maes, and Jan Steen. The second room displays landscapes and figure compositions by artists such as Pieter Saenredam, Jan Both, Rembrandt van Rijn, Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Salomon van Ruysdael, Gerrit van Honthorst, and Hendrik Avercamp. Finally, the third room is devoted to The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Rubens and, displayed in a special space within the room, one of the greatest landscape paintings in the history of art: Vermeer’s View of Delft.
Mauritshuis & Thyssen-Bornemisza. A love story between two museums
The two museums have also coordinated the publication of a book that brings together stories by ten Spanish and ten Dutch writers in which, from the starting point of one of the works in the exhibitions, they play with the painting and with the idea of love in its different manifestations: art, people, objects, sensations, etc., in order to create a dialogue between paintings, museums and artists. The Spanish writers Laura Ferrero, Espido Freire, Sara Mesa, Lara Moreno, Antonio Muoz Molina, Marta Sanz, Juan Talln, Jess Terrs, David Ucls and Gabriela Wiener have been inspired by works by Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch, Pieter Claesz, Gerrit Dou, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt, Hendrick Avercamp, Adriaen Coorte, Jan Steen, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens, while the Dutch writers Karin Amatmoekrim, Hanna Bervoets, Gershwin Bonevacia, Sacha Bronwasser, Rob van Essen, Radna Fabias, Lieke Knijnenburg, Tobi Lakmaker, Bert Natter and Tahrim Ramdjan have chosen Lucas Cranach the Elder, Palma Vecchio, El Greco, Jan van Eyck, Agnolo Bronzino, Petrus Christus, Michiel Sweerts, Piero della Francesca, Sebastiano del Piombo and Hendrick ter Brugghen, respectively.
