THE Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid currently hosts an exhibition that threads travel, art, and regional history into a single, compelling narrative. A cultural tour of the Balearic Islands opened this week with a morning ceremony led by Marga Prohens, the head of the Balearic government. The event drew senior officials from across the archipelago and a broad circle of Madrid’s cultural community, all of whom gathered to witness a moment that fuses Iberian heritage with contemporary museum practice. The occasion underscored the Balearic Islands as a cradle of culture, artists, and creators, a place that inspires both locals and visitors alike. This sentiment was echoed throughout the remarks, which framed the islands as a living workshop and a wellspring of artistic ideas for new generations of painters, photographers, and performers. attribution: Balearic Government.
The exhibition can be explored in the Mirador area of the museum, a space typically closed to the public. It brings together works by Joan Miró, the universal painter whose life and career are closely linked to Mallorca. During the opening, a quartet from the Balearic Symphony Orchestra performed Sound Impressions of the Balearic Islands, a concert that wove together pieces by island authors and the musical landscape of the archipelago. attribution: Balearic Government.
The head of the island government did not let the moment pass without presenting another major initiative—the digitization of the Casa Planas archive. This project aims to recover and preserve more than three million images that illuminate the tourism-driven development of Mallorca and the Balearic Islands from the 1950s onward. The exhibition itself features some symbolic photographs drawn from this important collection, offering visitors a tangible link between the region’s photographic heritage and its broader cultural evolution. attribution: Balearic Government.
The Casa Planas studio in Mallorca stood for decades as a beacon of photography in the Balearics, founded by Josep Planas i Montanyà. This entrepreneur captured the intimate relationship between tourism and image, leaving a rich record of how the islands transformed in the second half of the twentieth century. His projects documented how visitors experienced the archipelago and how local communities shaped hotel facades, street scenes, and everyday life. In recent years, Marina Planas, the granddaughter of the founder, entrusted the preservation of the archive to ensure that future generations can study the evolution of tourism through a visual lens. Her efforts, along with those of public administrations, reflect a shared duty to safeguard this material as part of the region’s historical and cultural heritage. attribution: Balearic Government.