Sargent and Spain Art Review: Spirituality, Sun, Ripe Pomegranates

On Thursday, I wrote the first of a two-part story on Sargent and Spain, the wonderful new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Sargent did about 220 paintings, watercolors, and drawings depicting Spanish subjects, and visited the country on seven long trips as an adult. He first went as a 23-year-old in 1879. His principal art professor in Paris, Carolus-Duran, pressed his students to study Velázquez, so it’s no surprise that Sargent spent lots of his time in Madrid at the Prado copying work by Velázquez but also El Greco and Goya. The artist’s exploration of their palette, use of tone, and handling of paint was a lifelong lodestar.

Sargent was always passionate about music and dance. He didn’t spend all his time on his 1879 trip as a Velázquez fanboy. He fell in love with flamenco. Sargent and Spain delivers two crackling galleries on his flamenco paintings.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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On Thursday, I wrote the first of a two-part story on Sargent and Spain, the wonderful new exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Sargent did about 220 paintings, watercolors, and drawings depicting Spanish subjects, and visited the country on seven long trips as an adult. He first went as a 23-year-old in 1879. His principal art professor in Paris, Carolus-Duran, pressed his students to study Velázquez, so it’s no surprise that Sargent spent lots of his time in Madrid at the Prado copying work by Velázquez but also El Greco and Goya. The artist’s exploration of their palette, use of tone, and handling of paint was a lifelong lodestar.

Sargent was always passionate about music and dance. He didn’t spend all his time on his 1879 trip as a Velázquez fanboy. He fell in love with flamenco. Sargent and Spain delivers two crackling galleries on his flamenco paintings.