Museo Carmen Thyssen

Francisco Javier Ferrer Morató holds a degree in law from the University of Malaga, later specializing in land use at Escuela Libre de Derecho y Economía in Madrid and in Senior Business Management at San Telmo International Institute. His professional experience is mostly in the public sector, working for Malaga City Council in two main areas.

Firstly, in roles of an urban legal technical nature, between 1986 and 2000, filling different positions in the areas of planning, expropriation and conservation of buildings (for the Municipal Planning Department), including providing Legal Advice for the Malaga General Management Plan 1997.

A second, senior management phase, ranging from late 2000 to the present, during which in early 2011 he was involved in municipal management, taking on the role of General Coordination of the City Council, as General Manager, reporting directly to the Mayor. In this role he contributed momentum and monitoring of all major projects in the city, with highlights including the Strategic Plan, the pedestrianization of the historic centre (especially the area of Calle Larios), the port city operation(today Muelle Uno), the Trade Fair and Congress Centre, the Stadium La Rosaleda, the current General Plan, the tunnelling for the arrival of the AVE train line, ...

He also managed cultural projects, including the establishment of the Fundación Málaga, the expansion of the exhibition spaces of the Casa Natal Picasso, the transfer of the collection and the construction of the Museum Revello de Toro, the acquisition of the Jan Lohn Collection and Notebook No. 16 for the Fundación Casa Natal de Picasso; he was appointed to the joint committee with the Picasso Museum in Malaga for its integration into the city, and was involved in the transfer of the Magalhaes Collection and construction of the Automobile Museum, the transfer of the Royal Collections for their inclusion in the Tabacalera building complex, establishing the Centre for Contemporary Art, the transfer of the Carmen Riera Collection to the CAC, the transfer of the Manuel Mingorance Acién Collection; he led the Foundation responsible for managing the candidacy of Malaga as European Capital of Culture for 2016 and finally the establishment of the Fundación Palacio de Villalón which manages the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga and its construction, up until its opening in March 2011.

Finally, in March 2011, he left the City Council after being invited by Carmen Thyssen, President of the Fundación Palacio de Villalón to be General Manager of Museo Carmen Thyssen in Malaga. A highlight of his management over these years is the configuration of the Museum as a space for social and corporate coexistence, integrated and open to the city through the programme of Friends of the Museum and the creation of the Entorno Thyssen (Thyssen Environment), among others.

Twenty five years experience working in cultural projects, first in the Fundación Pablo Ruiz Picasso-Casa Natal, the institution for which she was Managing Director in the period 2006-2011, and currently as artistic director in the Museo Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga -selected by public competition-.

She has curated numerous exhibitions, including:

Summer Days, from Sorolla to Hopper, Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga, 2015.

En los caminos del trazo: Dibujando con Picasso (On the Pathways of the Line: Drawing with Picasso), Fundación Pablo Ruiz Picasso, May-October 2008 (Anna Gamazo and Juan Abelló Collection).

Highlights from among the publications that she has coordinated include the catalogue raisonné covering the graphic works of the Fundación Pablo Ruiz Picasso Collection 1988-1907, published in 2007, and the coordination of research for the Catalogue of the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga Collection, Fundación Palacio Villalón, 2014.

To this must be added multiple articles in catalogues, periodicals and newspapers. Some examples are: “Autopercepción intelectual de un proceso histórico: Aproximación a una autobiografía picassiana” (Intellectual Self-perception of a Historic Process: Picasso's Approach to Autobiography) in Anthropos, 1994.

“Una figura clave para la ilustración española de principios de siglo XX: Francisco Sancha," (A Key Figure in Early Twentieth Century Spanish Illustration: Francisco Sancha) Art Bulletin, Department of Art History, University of Malaga, 2001.

“El taller de Picasso. La metamorfosis y el juego” Picasso, diálogo con la materia (Picasso's Workshop. Metamorphosis and Play. Picasso, Dialogue with Matter) Picasso, dialogue with matter, Kutxa, San Sebastian, 2006.

She has given numerous lectures and directed more than fifteen conference cycles.

She coordinated the process for the acquisition of artworks for the Fundación Picasso, including the Jan Lohn Collection, 2004, and Notebook No. 7 Demoiselles d'Avignon, 2006.