DALLAS, TX.- The Meadows Museum, SMU, is the first venue of a six-city tour for the exhibition, which will open to the public Sunday, Feb. 23, and run through June 22, 2025.
Presented in English and Spanish, 62 works from the Italian Renaissance to contemporary Puerto Rican art will reflect the vision and multifaceted taste of philanthropist Luis A. Ferré, who founded the museum in 1959. Headlined by Flaming June (1895), the Victorian masterpiece by Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830-1896), the exhibition will feature paintings by leading lights of the various European and American schools including Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Frederic Church and William Merritt Chase. In a presentation unique to the Dallas venue the Spanish selections—including works by El Greco, Jusepe de Ribera, Francisco de Goya and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida—will be displayed among the Meadows’ permanent collection, further enhancing the rich narrative of Spanish art history that the Meadows presents.
A gallery devoted to works by Puerto Rican artists will reflect the proud history and rich culture of the Caribbean island, with selections ranging from José Campeche’s devotional images of the late 18th century to the works of contemporary artists such as Myrna Báez, Francisco Rodón, and María de Mater O’Neill.
The Museo de Arte de Ponce’s signature 1965 building by Edward Durell Stone is currently undergoing major repairs due to the damages caused by the 2020 earthquakes that occurred off the southern coast of the island. During this time, the museum has loaned several of its major works to institutions around the world and organized a small-scale exhibition of Puerto Rican art that traveled to three venues in the U.S. between September 2022 and January 2025.
The Sense of Beauty exhibition was conceived and developed by Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, curator at Museo de Arte de Ponce, and the tour launched by the museum under the leadership of Executive Director Deborah L. Roldán.
