The negotiation of the Thyssen in Malaga, on hold pending the baroness's recovery

Paco Griñán and Pilar R. Quirós

Málaga

The news broke last Friday. As the stipulated 15-year contract for the Museo Carmen Thyssen, both parties, Málaga City Council and the collector, have not reached an agreement... and have extended the current agreement until the end of the year to give themselves time to negotiate and sign the new clauses. The Mayor of Málaga, Francisco de la Torre, revealed to SUR on Monday some of the key points of the discussions, while acknowledging that the dialogue has been stalled "for a few months" and is awaiting the "full and total" recovery of Baroness Thyssen, Tita Cervera, after her recent health issues, to resume the new agreement. The mayor did not want to detail the specific terms under discussion for the continuity of the art gallery, but he did reveal a significant difference regarding the contract signed in 2011: in the renewal, not only the owner of the collection intervenes, but also her heirs, her children Borja (46 years old) and the twins Carmen and Sabina (19).

Although already in 2021 -five years before the contract expired this June-, Baroness Carmen Cervera herself showed her willingness to extend the agreement with the Málaga City Council for the permanence of the Museo Carmen Thyssen in the Villalón Palace, the truth is that both parties have not been able to close the negotiation in this time, which, moreover, at the moment when the contract is about to expire -June 2026-, has been complicated by the health problems of the collector and patron. Thus, at the beginning of last May, Tita Thyssen was transported by helicopter from her residence on the Costa Brava to the Teknon clinic in Barcelona due to a pneumonia that got complicated.

"Now we have to wait for her -the baroness- to have a full and total recovery, as we all wish"

Francisco de la Torre

Mayor of Málaga

The baroness herself last week responded to publications about the deterioration of her health and assured the magazine 'Hola' that she had been "very ill," but that she was now well and recovering: "No relapses, no serious condition," she said emphatically. Precisely, the improvement of her condition is what the Málaga City Council is waiting for to resume the conversations about the continuity of the collector's museum in the capital, the first one named after her, after which another was inaugurated in Andorra that is currently closed due to the change of its headquarters. "Now we have to wait for her to have a full and total recovery, as we all wish," confirmed De la Torre, who assured that there is "a willingness on both sides to reach an agreement."

"There should be no obstacles"

The mayor avoided giving "many details" about the negotiation since it is "open", although he acknowledged that the last contact with Baroness Carmen Thyssen and her team was "a few months ago". Now, with the second half of the year ahead, Francisco de la Torre hopes to resume the dialogue once the collector is in a position to continue with the conversations. A process for which "there should be no obstacles," said the mayor, who confirmed that his intention is that the contract be closed with "the longest possible term" for the presence in Málaga of the art gallery. Although he did not confirm it, when talks began five years ago about the continuity of the museum in Málaga, the duration of validity that was on the table was for another 15 years -until 2041-, just like in the first agreement.

"There are logically some heirs who must also be considered in this framework of negotiation"

Francisco de la Torre

Mayor of Málaga

De la Torre recalled that, at the Centre Pompidou Málaga, the renewal has been for ten more years, although he acknowledged that the case of the Museo Carmen Thyssen is "singular" because it is not negotiated with an institution, but with "a collector". And at this point he introduced an important change in the conversations since the owner of the works, 83 years old, takes into account the future owners, her children, in this new dialogue. "There are logically some heirs who must also be considered in this framework of negotiation," advanced the mayor of Málaga, who considered the appropriateness of the continuity of the art gallery in the rehabilitated Villalón Palace since it is "a museum with a solid brand."

Related news

• • The lack of agreement forces to extend in extremis the contract for the continuity of the Thyssen of Málaga

  Paco Griñán

In this sense, the mayor remembered the Málaga of his "childhood and adolescence, which has nothing to do culturally with the current one, so it is important that we continue to preserve and enhance it." And in that offer, he gives a leading role to the Museo Carmen Thyssen, which he highlighted for its good numbers with "200,000 annual visitors in the last couple of years" and the "added attraction" of the recent public opening of the Roman archaeological site located in its subsoil. "This museum has the conditions to continue being interesting," concluded Francisco de la Torre, convinced of the continuity of the art gallery.

• More topics
• Málaga City Council
• Carmen Cervera Thyssen Bornemisza
• Museo Carmen Thyssen