Baroness Thyssen sells the pearl of her art collection Automatic translate

July 3 in London at Christie’s auction will be sold one of the most expensive paintings from the collection of Baroness Carmen Thyssen (Carmen Thyssen) - "The Lock" ("Gateway") by John Constable (John Constable).

John Constable - Gateway (1824)

“I am very sorry to sell the paintings. God willing, I will not do this anymore, ”the baroness said in an interview. The motive for the sale of the masterpiece was material difficulties. “I need money, the crisis has affected even collectors, and maintaining a collection is worth a lot of money. In addition, my collection has been provided free of charge to the Spanish government for 13 years and is constantly exhibited in museums, ”said Carmen Thyssen.

John Constable’s The Lock was bought by Baron Thyssen in 1990, and was the only painting in a series of six paintings in private hands.

The masterpiece of John Constable is far from the first picture that the Baroness sells. A couple of years ago, one of the paintings from the Thyssen collection was bought by an anonymous collector from New York. Initially, Carmen Thyssen invited the Ministry of Culture of Spain to buy this painting at a relatively low price and in installments. But neither the former Minister of Culture, Angela González Sinde, nor the current Jose Ignacio Werth accepted the offer.

According to the agreement, on the basis of which the Thyssen house collection is leased to the Spanish state, the Baroness can sell paintings no more than 10% of the total cost of the collection, which is approximately 800 million euros. The proceeds from the sale of The Lock will be approximately 4.5%. The most expensive painting in the Thyssen collection is Gauguin’s Mata Mua, valued at 150 million euros.

Anna Sidorova