The Great Collecting of Contemporary Art: New Canons and Their Interpreters

Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza (founder of TBA21) and Markus Reymann (co-director of TBA21) will take part in this Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza’s conversation series, directed by Rosina Gómez-Baeza and Lucía Ybarra, which pays tribute to those collectors who ensure the continual renewal of contemporary art.

On Tuesday, November 4, at 7 PM, the museum’s auditorium will host the penultimate event in the series, where the speakers will share their vision from their dual roles as collectors and active figures within the contemporary art world.

Included in the TOP 200 list of global collectors for 2025, Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza recently emphasized in an interview with Artnews that her advice to new collectors is not to think of collecting as ownership but as stewardship; to support the voices shaping our future; those who question established structures, work with urgency, and engage with nature, justice, and community. “For me, this is where collecting becomes truly meaningful. It’s about investing not only in objects, but in ideas and in the conditions that allow artists to take risks. Begin with questions, not with things. That’s where the future of collecting lies.”

Since February 11, numerous leading figures from the collecting world have participated in the museum’s auditorium series: Blanca and Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza, Eduardo Costantini and Juan Herreros, Armando Cabral, Adolfo Autric and Charo Tamayo, Alejandra and Alejandro Lázaro, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, and Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg. The program will conclude with Alberto Cruz on December 9.