THEMATIC TOURS This itinerary has been possible on account of the collaboration of Art and The itinerary Social Challenges from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Sustainability Collection is conceived to encourage sustainable thinking with the permanent collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum Social Challenges in Madrid. Throughout the itinerary, visitors will notice that the from the works have been selected based on aesthetic-experience criteria Thyssen-Bornemisza interrelating art and sustainable development in terms of ecology, Collection economy and society. To that end, a group of paintings have been brought together to be reinterpreted within a framework under Mariola Campelo Tenoira which empathy with environment and sustainability may be gen- with the assistance and coordination of the Education Department at the erated. These works are not to be considered environmental art Thyssen-Bornemisza but masterpieces of art history allowing links between cultural production, society and sustainable development to be considered from a historical point of view. This guide is conceived as a resource for self-guided visits by the public and allows exploring the three levels of the Thyssen- Bornemisza Museum and learning about some of the most representative works of the permanent collection. KURT SCHWITTERS, Merzbild Kijkduin (detail) Art and Sustainability THEMATIC TOURS 2 [FLOOR 2, ROOM 13] claude lorrain (born claude gellée) from the scenes to become insignificant was one of the earliest artists in history in his landscapes). Landscape is a setting to concentrate on landscape as an auton- for reaffirming (moral) values related CLAUDE LORRAIN omous pictorial genre. In his paintings, to mythological scenes or the historical Chamagne (Lorraine), 1604/1605–Rome, 1682 nature became landscape, a segment of question. However, his idealised depic- nature extending as far as the human eye tions stem from invention. Claude Lorrain Pastoral Landscape with the Flight can see. Born in France, Lorrain under- does not merely paint the Roman coun- into Egypt, 1663 took a large part of his artistic trajectory tryside topographically. The light he uses Oil on canvas, 193 x 147 cm in Italy, primarily in Rome, and by the streams in through the scenes with a nat- end of the 1630s had acquired consider- ural effect providing the picture with able standing as a landscapist there. serenity and poetic significance. Further- Lorrain grew out of a tradition of more, the artist fuses in his landscapes the landscape painting by northern artists different Italian cities that he had visited settled in the Eternal City that were (Naples, Capri, Civitavecchia, Genoa, etc.) interested in ruins as an artistic motive Architectural ruins recall in his painting for their drawings. As well as those, Lor- the golden age of the time when Aeneas rain was inspired by the Roman Cam- disembarked and founded Rome, as des- pagna, a natural site outside the city, cribed in Virgil’s poems, triggering a feel- and approached it with genuine aes- ing of nostalgia for the lost greatness. thetic admiration. The painter was not Even though these images show us very interested in the subject matter of an idealised and aesthetised look about his painting, here the Flight into Egypt, nature, Lorrain’s landscapes still evoke a which he brought to his present by harmonious relationship between culture inserting into Bible times daily Roman and nature, an encounter that amounts landscape scenes of his time. to living in nature instead of from nature Most likely because his clients were and requires for societies to commit them- erudite lovers of Roman culture, Lorrain’s selves to the protection of cultural heritage painting ‘deals with religion’ but is not and the preservation of environment for religious (figures will gradually disappear the purpose of reducing climate change. [FLOOR 2, ROOM 17] since its establishment, venice’s history has been linked to water. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the natural lagoon on CANALETTO (GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL) which it lies served as a refuge to those Venice, 1697–1768 peoples who fled from Barbarians. Then, the first palafittes were erected, the islands The Grand Canal from San Vio, were widened and the lagoon was drained, Venice, ca. 1723-1724 thus the famous canals were born. Oil on canvas, 140.5 x 204.5 cm Its unbeatable location provided a suc- cessful economic development related to marine technologies and East-West trade. Wealth accumulation turned Venice into a sophisticated city and this was particularly reflected in its splendid his- torical and artistic heritage. With the emergence of new mari- time routes towards the New World, the ‘Serenissima’ took an economic and polit- ical downward turn. However, the care- free Venetian social life still continued, as it was possible to enjoy parties (carnival), Art and Sustainability THEMATIC TOURS 3 theatre shows and amusement aimed at ism, this long journey through France attracting foreign visitors to the Lagoon. and Italy was in the 18th century an essen- This complex urban and social reality tial step in the education of European is at the root of the veduta, a cityscape pic- aristocrats, who found in these views the torial genre that became particularly rel- ideal souvenir of their youth adventure. evant with Canaletto owing to his ability Tourism is today the driver of Venice’s to integrate urban structures and life. In economic growth, a practice involving a The Grand Canal from San Vio, Venice, highly specialised services sector. This the Italian painter chooses an elevated urban development model has brought place and focuses the perspective on San short-term benefits for the local econ- Marco to show with topographic accuracy omy but, at the same time, rising house sites of interest in Venice while including prices and unemployment have pushed the atmosphere of the city’s busy or idle its inhabitants towards the city limits. inhabitants. However, Canaletto employs Alongside climate change, which has invention. In his images, Venice remains increased the Adriatic Sea level and led unchanged over time. The sun is always to more frequent acqua alta events, the shining in his pictures, as if Venice was poor management of a mass and uncon- perpetually smiling to its visitors. trolled tourism is negatively affecting The veduta were very sought after by the protection of cultural heritage and travellers and art lovers who completed threatens the sustainability of a key eco- the Grand Tour. A germ of modern tour- nomic sector of its economy. [FLOOR 1, ROOM 26] dutch golden age painting showed lands and the development of a wide a great production of works aimed at network of channels for transport. It thus decorating the civil buildings of a new became a national economic pillar, sup- JACOB ISAACKSZ. VAN RUISDAEL nation independent from the Spanish plying the high demand for energy of the and Collaborators (?) empire as well as the homes of a pros- growing urban centres but, at the same Haarlem, 1628/1629–Amsterdam (?), 1682 perous middle class who had benefited time, posed a threat to land and agricul- economically from the Dutch maritime tural fields due to the aggressive under- Winter Landscape, ca. 1670 and commercial supremacy in Europe. ground operation techniques required. Oil on canvas, 65.8 x 96.7 cm Specialisation becomes crucial in this A wind-powered mill that produces context of great artistic activity. Among inexhaustible and clean energy appears others, landscape painting became in in the background. Holland developed a Holland a separate genre, and winter strong engineering of mills, now inte- was a very recurring theme. Jacob van grated in the country’s industrial land- Ruisdael depicted, with a clear naturalis- scape, for a wide range of uses. Sawmills tic sense of daily issues, this harsh sea- for shipbuilding and water-powered son where life comes to a standstill and mills, used to drain water from coastal keeps pace with nature. areas below sea level suffering from The availability of a fossil fuel energy incessant floods, are possibly the most source was essential in these circum- outstanding examples. stances. Two opposing types of sources The scene showed in our picture may that contributed to economic develop- help us reflect on the type of economy we ment in the Netherlands coexist in our want to adopt in order not to exhaust the picture. A number of warehouses for planet’s energy resources. We human peat, a fuel that was transported by boat, beings must now consider a transition can be found at the bend of the iced from the use of fossil fuels towards canal. Peat is a fossil energy that was renewable, clean and inexhaustible intensively exploited in Holland because sources of energy that do not result in it had low production and distribution greenhouse gas or pollution emissions costs thanks to the country’s vast wet- harmful to the planet and to our health. Art and Sustainability THEMATIC TOURS 4 [FLOOR 1, ROOM 29] in the aftermath of the american icate brushstrokes, subtle tonality modu- war of Independence (1775-1783), the lations and a balanced composition in United States nation begins to form. order to capture the calm, silence and JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT Painting will play a fundamental role in serenity of the natural site. The flight of Cheshire, 1816–New York, 1872 that process of identity construction. birds is a symbol of harmony; the contin- Landscape art was of particular impor- uous horizon lends a sensation of stabili- Lake George, ca. 1860 tance in shaping a social awareness ty to the landscape and evokes the Oil on canvas, 55.8 x 86.4 cm regarding a vast and still largely unex- vastness of North American land. plored territory. Everything in Kensett’s luminist John Kensett was a member of the painting takes us to an untouched place second generation of the Hudson River which is not free of historical associa- School landscape painters.