Painting at centre of controversy at Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga to remain on display after legal case dropped

Art collector and lawyer Antonio Castillo has withdrawn his claim against Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga, following a 2019 lawsuit with which he challenged the authorship of one of the paintings hanging in the museum. The painting in question is Marina (1884), attributed to Malaga-born Emilio Ocón y Rivas, although Castillo argued that it belonged to Ocón y Rivas's nephew - Adolfo Ocón.

The controversy surrounding the authorship of the painting, which was purchased by Baroness Carmen Thyssen, patron of the museum, in 1994, has lasted a decade. At two metres in height, the canvas, which portrays a twilight port scene in northern Spain, deviates from the artist's usual luminous Andalusian oil paintings. It has been hanging in the museum ever since Baroness Thyssen donated it and will continue to do so, now that the lawsuit has been dropped.

Before the hearing began, the judge urged the parties to reach an agreement and for the dispute to be taken to academic and scientific circles. This invitation was accepted by the plaintiff who withdrew his claim to have the work attributed to Adolfo Ocón. With this decision, Castillo opted to "de-judicialise the debate and allow it to be discussed in another forum".

The museum's lawyer, Andrés Reina told SUR that they had accepted the plaintiff's withdrawal. He stated that each party will bear their own expenses of the proceedings. The work will therefore continue to hang as part of the permanent collection of the Museo Carmen Thyssen under the authorship of Emilio Ocón.

The authorship debate is still open in the art world. Museo Carmen Thyssen's artistic director, Lourdes Moreno has said that "the museum continues to maintain that it is by Emilio Ocón, despite knowing that the signature was retouched at the time". Since 2015, experts have been questioning the authorship, pointing that, under the 'E' of Emilio Ocón's signature, another letter, an 'A', could be seen. The attempt to conceal the 'A', which bears resemblance with the signature on Adolfo Ocón paintings, is obvious.

While the museum acknowledges that the signature has been "retouched", Moreno said that "there are more reasons today for the work to be by Emilio than by Adolfo". She stated that Marina (1884) is the work of a "master rather than an apprentice like his nephew, who never took part in a competition at the time". Moreno added that the radiological study revealed that "the painting technique coincides with another canvas by Emilio Ocón in the MUPAM (Municipal Heritage Museum), Twilight in the port of Málaga (1878)". The large format is another indication that points to the attributed author. Finally, Moreno explained that both signatures were applied after the varnish, "so we are looking at an authentic work and cannot speak of a forgery".

However, the artistic director stated that "in art one cannot be categorical" and welcomed scientific discussion on the authorship of Marina. While she stated that the museum would acknowledge the authorship of Adolfo Ocón, if proof was to be provided in the future, the current data attributes "the work to Emilio Ocón on account of its excellent workmanship".