Prague, Feb 10 (CTK) – The National Gallery (NG) in Prague will display the famous Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary collection in its Salm Palace for five years on the basis of a memorandum that NG director Jiri Fajt and collection founder Francesca von Habsburg signed on Friday, NG announced.
Thanks to the agreement, Prague has a chance to become a leading destination of contemporary art fans.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) foundation focuses on experimental and unconventional contemporary art projects. Its collections comprise the works by Olafur Eliasson, Ernest Net, Ai Weiwei and Ragnar Kjartansson, the NG wrote in a press release. The NG will present more details on the cooperation at a press conference to be given in the Veletrzni (Trade Fair) Palace in Prague on March 16.
As of June 2018, the NG will display more than 100 of the most significant artifacts from the TBA21 collection on its premises in the early 19th-century Salm Palace outside Prague Castle, the presidential seat. Several other installations from the collection will be placed in the large hall of the Veletrzni Palace.
“The cooperation with TBA21 is another step in support of the changes to gradually revitalise the National Gallery. Apart from the fascinating collection that visitors will have a chance to see in the Salm Palace, this is a great opportunity for the acquisition of works by the most important as well as upcoming contemporary artists,” Fajt said.
The collection of the TBA21 foundation was founded by Francesca von Habsburg who thereby followed up the three previous generations of art collectors from the Thyssen family. Her father Hans Heinrich Thyssen founded the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid that ranks among the world’s most important art galleries.
