Encounters: works from the TBA21 Collection

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in collaboration with TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary is presenting Encounters: works from the TBA21 Collection. Presented from 31 May to 8 October 2023 in Rooms 30 to 52 of the museum’s first floor, this special display constructs a wide-ranging dialogue between the museum’s recently reinstalled modern art collection and more than 25 works from the TBA21 Collection. These Encounters reveal the collecting passions of four generations of the Thyssen family while analysing the trans-historical narratives and sensibilities present in their respective collections. 

The display suggests new connections between artistic creation of different periods and cultures. This exchange of gazes between visual artists notably distanced in time reveals that in addition to the changes which come about in styles and forms of expression, the very way in which the human figure, gender, identity, nature and culture are conceived also changes.

The juxtapositions of works to be seen in Encounters offer visitors alternative visions which show the Museo Thyssen’s capacity to open up to new ways of understanding and interpreting the world. Observing and contemplating the invited works from the TBA21 Collection presented in this exhibition will contribute to a knowledge of art being created today, including works by leading names such as Ai Weiwei, Sarah Lucas, Regina de Miguel, Cindy Sherman, Álvaro Urbano and Andrea Fraser, among others, while also broadening the appreciation and understanding of works in the museum’s collection through different perspectives.