Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon

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Head of a sculpture by Thyssen-Bornemisza

Hans Heinrich "Heini" Àgost Gábor Tasso Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon (born April 13, 1921 in Scheveningen , The Hague , Netherlands ; † April 27, 2002 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols , Spain ) was a Swiss entrepreneur and art collector from the entrepreneurial family Thyssen .

Life path

He was the grandson of August Thyssen , the founder of a rolling mill, which later developed into Thyssen AG, one of the largest corporations in the iron and steel industry of that time. Only his son Fritz joined the company.

His father was another son of August Thyssens, Heinrich (1875-1947). This emigrated to Hungary, where he married the baroness Margit Bornemisza de Kászon (1887–1971). Heinrich allowed himself to be adopted by his father-in-law and thus had a Hungarian nobility title with royal recognition since 1905. The marriage ended in divorce when Hans Heinrich was six years old.

Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza studied law, economics and art history in Bern and Freiburg in Üechtland from 1940 to 1945 .

Global share of August Thyssen-Bank AG from June 1955 with the signature of Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza as member of the Supervisory Board

In 1950 he became a Swiss citizen and renounced the "Baron" part of his name. From his father he inherited an industrial empire and a valuable collection of paintings in the Villa Favorita in Castagnola , which he made available to the public from 1949. In addition to his business activities (group holdings), he devoted himself more and more to his collection of paintings, which he was constantly expanding.

His five marriages made headlines.

  • For the first time he married the Austrian Teresa (Princess to) Lippe-Weißenfeld (1925-2008) in 1946 . Their only child is Georg Heinrich (* 1950). In 1954 the divorce followed.
  • His second wife was the photo model Nina Dyer (1930-1965) in 1954 . The marriage remained childless and was divorced in 1956.
  • In 1956 he married the British model Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter (* 1932) from New Zealand . Her children are the art collector Francesca (* 1958, separated wife of Karl Habsburg-Lothringen ) and Lorne (* 1963). Hans Heinrich Thyssen and Fiona Campbell-Walter divorced in 1965.
  • His fourth wife was Denise Shorto (* 1942), a Brazilian banker's daughter , in 1967 . From this marriage comes their son Alexander (* 1974). In 1984 this marriage also ended in divorce.
  • He married his last wife, the Spanish former beauty queen and film actress Carmen "Tita" Cervera (* 1943), in 1985.

In the second half of the 1980s, Hans-Heinrich tried to move the valuable art collection from the Villa Favorita in Lugano to a public museum building. Despite the intensive efforts of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to locate the collection in London , Carmen Thyssen's home country Spain ultimately won the contract due to the influence of Carmen Thyssen. In 1993 the Spanish state bought this collection for $ 350 million. The greater part of it is now in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza , one of the most important museums in Madrid , and a small part in the Pedralbes Monastery in Barcelona .

His last wife tried to dissolve the art foundation and thus gain control of her husband's assets. However, an agreement was reached before Hans-Heinrich's death that ended the dispute over control of the exceptionally rich art collection.

Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza died on 27 April 2002 in Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain, and has been in the family vault of in Ratingen nearby castle Landsberg buried.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Charles Moore: Margaret Thatcher, the Authorized Biography . Vol. III: Herself Alone, Penguin 2019, pp. 135 ff.
  2. ↑ Dietmar Pieper: Heini against Heini. Der Spiegel , 29/2001. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  3. ↑ cf. Thomas Rother: The Thyssens: Tragedy of the Steel Barons. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag 2003, pp. 208 ff.

Movie

  • German Dynasties - The Thyssens. Documentary, Germany, 2010, 44 min., Script and direction: Julia Melchior and Sebastian Dehnhardt , production: WDR , series: Deutsche Dynastien, first broadcast: ARD , November 8, 2010, summary ( memento of August 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) the ARD.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, Hans Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thyssen-Bornemisza, Hans Heinrich Baron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss industrialist and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Scheveningen , The Hague, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 2002
Place of death Sant Feliu de Guíxols , Catalonia