Introduction to the History of Art through the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Series I

Italian painting of the 17th and 18th centuries is characterised by the contrast between two fundamental currents within the Baroque: the naturalism and the classicism. This session explores the influence of both languages on painters working at this period and how their legacy was expressed in the work of 18^th-century artists.

The route begins in the Italian Trecento, a key moment in Western art which saw the emergence of a renewed interest in the representation of space and the expression of emotions.

From Van Eyck to Patinir, this session analyses the distinctive features of the Flemish Renaissance, including its meticulousness, naturalism, delight in beauty and unprecedented love of landscape. 

hrough the works in the collection, the evolution from the balance and clarity of the Florentine Quattrocento to the primacy of colour and sensory experience of the Venetian Cinquecento will become evident, with painting interpreted as a reflection of the social, political and cultural tensions of Renaissance Italy.

This session analyses German painting from the 14^th to the 16^th centuries as a unique tradition characterised by a powerful spirituality and expressiveness and distinct from Italian classicism and Flemish naturalism. 

This session offers an analysis of works created for a cultured clientele that demanded civic portraits, domestic scenes, landscapes, cityscapes and seascapes. The museum's exceptional collection of 17^th-century Dutch painting allows for a detailed examination of this fruitful artistic period.

Flemish Baroque was the style that emerged in the Southern Netherlands during the 17^th century after the region separated from the northern provinces.