John Singer Sargent, “Blind Musicians,” 1912, watercolor on paper, 39.4 x 53 cm. Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums

It’s always a joy to be presented with the opportunity to view works by acclaimed Anglo-American painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). This remarkable exhibition has brought together a special selection of these…

Renowned for his astute and sensitive oil portraits of the European elite in the 19th century, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was also — surprise, surprise — incredibly talented with watercolors, many of which feature during a captivating exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery in Southwark, United Kingdom.

John Singer Sargent, “Loggia, View at the Generalife,” circa 1912, watercolor on paper, 39.4 x 53.2 cm. Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
John Singer Sargent, “Bed of a Torrent,” circa 1904, watercolor on paper, 36 x 51 cm. Royal Watercolour Society, London
John Singer Sargent, “A Turkish Woman by a Stream,” circa 1907, watercolor on paper, 35.9 x 50.8 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum
John Singer Sargent, “Italian Sailing Vessels at Anchor,” circa 1904-1907, watercolor on paper, 35.2 x 50.3 cm. The Ashmolean Museum
John Singer Sargent, “A Street in Spain,” circa 1880, watercolor on paper, 23.8 x 32.1 cm. The Ashmolean Museum
John Singer Sargent, “Villa Borghese, Temple of Diana,” circa 1906-1907, watercolor on paper, 35.2 x 50.3 cm. The Ashmolean Museum
John Singer Sargent, “Rome: An Architectural Study,” circa 1906-1907, watercolor on paper, 34.9 x 50.2 cm. Museums & Galleries, City of Bradford MDC
John Singer Sargent, “Spanish Fountain,” 1912, watercolor on paper, 53.3 x 34.6 cm. Fitzwilliam Museum
John Singer Sargent, “Palma, Majorca,” 1908, watercolor on paper, 36.2 x 52.6 cm. Fitzwilliam Museum

More than 80 paintings from both private and public collections compose the exhibition, “revealing Sargent’s idiosyncratic view of the world and the scale of his achievement,” the gallery writes. “Free from the constraints of his studio he was able to take inspiration from the places he visited — from the streams and glacial moraines in The Alps to the renaissance and baroque architecture he explored in Venice. Working en plein air, Sargent developed a distinctive way of seeing and composing, his subjects often appearing fragmented and disorienting — an expression of his personal, modern aesthetic.”

Titled “Sargent: The Watercolours,” the show opened on June 21 and will continue through October 8. To learn more, visit Dulwich Picture Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.


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Andrew Webster is the former Editor of Fine Art Today and worked as an editorial and creative marketing assistant for Streamline Publishing. Andrew graduated from The University of North Carolina at Asheville with a B.A. in Art History and Ceramics. He then moved on to the University of Oregon, where he completed an M.A. in Art History. Studying under scholar Kathleen Nicholson, he completed a thesis project that investigated the peculiar practice of embedded self-portraiture within Christian imagery during the 15th and early 16th centuries in Italy.

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