Commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting from Museo de Arte de Ponce presents a selection of sixty paintings by European, Puerto Rican, and North American artists that reflect the scope and diversity of the museum’s collection. The exhibition is organized into five sections based on themes that have been popular in the history of art: scenes of daily life, landscapes, religion, portraiture, and the concept of beauty. This juxtaposition of masterpieces from the sixteenth through the twenty-first century fosters a visual and thematic dialogue, establishing unexpected connections between works that correspond to different historical and geographical contexts.
The Sense of Beauty will showcase masterworks by prominent European and North American artists, including religious paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck; portraits by Joshua Reynolds, Élisabeth Louise Vigée LeBrun, and Francisco de Goya; landscapes by Frederic Edwin Church, William Merritt Chase, and Gustave Courbet; and genre scenes by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, James Tissot, and John Singer Sargent. The Museo de Arte de Ponce is also renowned for having one of the most significant collections of Victorian art outside of the United Kingdom. Their iconic painting Flaming June by Frederic Leighton will be featured along with works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Additionally, the exhibition will highlight the rich heritage of Puerto Rican art, from José Campeche’s religious images of the late eighteenth century to the work of contemporary artists such as Francisco Rodón, Myrna Báez, and Waldemar Morales Lugo.
The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting from Museo de Arte de Ponce has been organized by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in collaboration with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
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Image Credits:
Frederic, Lord Leighton (England, 1830-1896), Flaming June, 1895, oil on canvas, 46 7/8 x 46 7/8 in. (119.1 x 119.1 cm), Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Frederic Edwin Church (United States, 1826-1900), Morning in the Tropics, 1872, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 46 1/2 in. (73 x 118.1 cm), Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Waldemar Morales Lugo (Puerto Rico, 1931-2010), Portrait of América, 1957, oil on canvas, 36 5/16 x 28 13/16 in. (92.2 x 73.2 cm), Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
José Campeche y Jordán (Puerto Rico, 1751-1809), Saint Joseph and the Christ Child, ca. 1782, oil on panel, 13 9/16 x 10 1/4 in. (34.5 x 26 cm), Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
The Sense of Beauty has been organized by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in collaboration with the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
This project was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
