Twenty-five works of art from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum collection can now also enjoyed the taste buds thanks to the creativity of twenty-five chefs, including Quique Dacosta and Paco Torreblanca, who have chosen a painting and transformed it into a dish.

These creations have been compiled in the book “Thyssen en el plato, la colección interpretada por 25 grandes chefs” (Thyssen in the dish, the collection interpreted by 25 great chefs), which has been presented by the museum to reiterate its “interest” in gastronomy.

The manager of the centre’s bookshop, Ana Cela, reminded EFE that they have a “culinary journey” through a selection of artworks on this theme from its permanent collection, in addition to having developed the ‘DelicaThyssen’ line with olive oils, chocolates, wines, spices, teas, nougat, organic honey, jams and preserves of mussels and sardines.

“They’re small productions that I’ve come across over time, all very natural and very seasonal”, said Cela, for whom this book is “one more step”, and she is already planning a new version with international chefs.

The management of the museum chose 25 renowned Spanish chefs, invited them to see the collection and asked them to select a painting and capture it in a dish.

Michelin Chefs

There are a good few Michelin-rated chefs among them, such as those in Martín Berasategui’s restaurants, with several stars around Spain, Quique Dacosta (from the restaurant of the same name in Dènia, Alicante), Lucía Freitas (A Tafona, Santiago de Compostela), Toño Pérez (Atrio, Cáceres) and Roberto Ruiz (Punto MX, Madrid).

And also Ricardo Sanz (Kabuki Wellington, Madrid), Jesús Sánchez (Cenador de Amós, Cantabria), Juan Mari and Elena Arzak (Arzak, San Sebastián), Paco Morales (Noor, Córdoba) and Carme Ruscalleda (Sant Pau Tokyo).

Desserts weren’t overlooked either, with two of the most prestigious pastry chefs, Oriol Balaguer and Paco Torreblanca, taking care of the sweet dishes.

All of them explain which painting fascinated them and why in “Thyssen en el plato” and offer their recipes for their edible versions. “Some paintings have been transformed into a more literal dish, Carme Ruscalleda’s work is almost like a photocopy of the painting, while others are based more on evocations”, said Ana Cela.

The creation from Roberto Martínez Foronda (Tripea, Madrid) appears on the front cover and is based on Dali’s “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a second Before Awakening”: A scorpion fish ceviche of Gala with sweet potato to reproduce the skin of the tigers that appear in the painting, black garlic honey and pomegranate.

Foronda didn’t need to think twice when choosing this painting because of “its various elements, some of which are related to gastronomy and Gala’s naked figure”. He claims his dish is “easy and simple compared to Dalí’s surrealism”.

Under the direction of María Van Eynde, the project involves “an impressive work of photography and styling”, which in addition to being used in the “Thyssen en el plato” book, is also captured in a video.