BOSTON, MASS.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Museo de Arte de Ponce jointly announce that important works by José Campeche y Jordán (1751-1809) and Francisco Oller y Cestero (1833-1917)—the most influential Puerto Rican artists of the 18th- and 19th-centuries—are being displayed at the MFA. This special installation features five paintings by Campeche and Oller from MAP’s collection, including one of the most iconic works in the history of Puerto Rican art, Campeche’s Lady on Horseback (1785). Oller’s famed Hacienda Aurora (1898), as well as two rare paintings on ceramic plates, open conversations about histories of the Puerto Rican landscape and artistic exchanges across Europe and the Americas.

“This partnership with the Museo de Arte de Ponce creates an unprecedented opportunity for us to introduce our audiences to Campeche and Oller, two deeply significant Puerto Rican painters who remain understudied outside of the island,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director. “Displayed in our Art of the Americas Wing alongside important works of colonial art and landscape painting from our collection, these special loans from MAP will highlight the contributions of Puerto Rican artists and offer a new point of connection for Boston’s vibrant Puerto Rican community.”

The paintings will be highlighted during tours at the MFA’s annual Latinx Heritage Night on September 21 as well as additional programs to be announced at a later time.

The collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce consists of approximately 4,500 works of art and is recognized for important examples of Baroque, Pre-Raphaelite, and Victorian art. The renowned collection of Puerto Rican art makes up about one-third of the museum’s holdings, including works from the 18th to 21st centuries. Following a catastrophic series of earthquakes in January 2020, which damaged the internationally recognized Edward Durell Stone-designed building, the main galleries of MAP have remained closed to the public.

As the galleries are rebuilt, MAP remains committed to keeping the collection accessible through collaborations with institutions on the island and beyond. In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently displaying five Victorian masterpieces, including Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, John Everet Millais’s The Escape of a Heretic, 1559, and Edward Burne-Jones’s Small Briar Rose series. From September 2022 to June 2023, Chicago’s National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture exhibited Nostalgia for My Island: José Campeche y Jordán, Lady on Horseback, 1785, Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. Puerto Rican Painting from the Museo do Arte de Ponce (1786-1962). Additional loans are expected to be announced in other major cities in the United States, as well as in Europe.

“Not only is the museum a cultural institution ingrained in the fabric of Puerto Rican society, but it is also internationally renowned because of the extraordinary collections it houses, “said Cheryl Hartup, Director of the Museo de Arte de Ponce. “When the works travel, a conversation is created within the ecosystem of international art institutions and their collections and audiences. We couldn’t be more thrilled to share iconic paintings by Puerto Rican artists with the MFA, Boston as the museum is repaired.”

The Museo de Arte de Ponce expects to fully reopen in 2024.