The Comedia cinema will be reborn as the Carmen Thyssen Museum

Whenever a cinema closes in Barcelona, its citizens, cinephiles or not, raise an outcry, often thinking of all those childhood theaters they had around the corner. The closure of the Comedia last January was no exception, even though the central cinemas had not been at their best for some time, with dilapidated seats and soundproofing that left much to be desired. From the beginning, the administrations promised to preserve their cultural uses and avoid replacing them with a new clothing store or a fast-food establishment, and, surely due to its excellent location, only a few months have passed until an alternative has been concretized.

It will be Carmen Thyssen who will occupy the emblematic building, where dust has been accumulating in recent months. The baroness will open a new museum in the heart of her hometown and will bring her private collection to the chamfer between Paseo de Gràcia and Gran Via, characterized by focusing on Spanish painting, American painting, and European painting of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a special emphasis on impressionism, post-impressionism, and expressionism.

According to La Vanguardia and confirmed by sources close to the operation, a pre-agreement has been reached between the owners of the cinemas, the Pla and Planàs families, with Carmen Cervera and the Stoneweg fund, which is also present in the city with the Palau Martorell and the America's Cup interpretation center in the former Imax cinemas, and failed to bring the controversial Russian Hermitage museum. Now, the fund plans an immersive art center in the old Godó i Trias factory in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The Carmen Thyssen Museum in Barcelona, a goal pursued for years by the baroness, will bring an exquisite collection that is already present in other Spanish cities, in addition to being visible in the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. In Malaga, it was inaugurated in 2011, with a permanent collection dedicated to Spanish painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as including a small selection of old masters such as Zurbarán. Just one year later, it arrived in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, with a space that hosts a temporary exhibition of different themes every summer. Finally, in March 2017, Carmen Thyssen's collection arrived in Andorra, with annual temporary exhibitions in the old Hostal Valira in Escaldes-Engordany.