The displays at this outstanding museum represent the best of Western art from the past 800 years. The collection is considered one of the best in the world.

The artworks were originally kept at the family home, Villa Favorita, in Lugano, Switzerland, but after expanding the collection with hundreds of modern paintings, Baron Heinrich looked for a venue where they could be put on public view. Several countries vied for the prestigious collection but the baron decided on the Palacio de Villahermosa in Madrid, a grand eighteenth century neoclassic mansion on the Paseo del Prado.

The displays comprise about a thousand exhibits, the majority of which are paintings, but the museum also contains sculptures, tapestries, and decorative objects.