Portraits from the Renaissance to the modern era share space in The Sense of Beauty, reflecting Museo de Arte de Ponce founder Luis A. Ferré’s vision of “universal harmonies.” Image by Gina Cavallo.
Utahns have an unprecedented opportunity over the next five months to see exceptional examples of art history spanning 600 years. The Sense of Beauty, at the BYU Museum of Art, offers highlights from the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. While the Museo is undergoing an expansion and repairing damage caused by earthquakes off the coast in 2020 and Hurricane Maria in 2017, these 60 paintings are touring 8 museums around the mainland United States, allowing the Museo to keep a portion of its collections accessible during its closure. “Experiencing the works through ‘new eyes’ and hearing new audiences respond to them has been very meaningful,” says the Museo de Arte’s curator, Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón. “In Puerto Rico, we are very proud of our cultural patrimony and the collection Luis A. Ferré created for us. It is fulfilling to share our treasures with new audiences across the U.S.”
The exhibition is grouped in general sections – landscapes, portraits, religious themes – but finding a narrative is not the point. Each work stands on its own, most collected by the founder of the Museo, Luis A. Ferré, in the 1950s and 1960s (43 of the 60 works in the exhibition were acquired by 1969). His collecting focus was very personal. He sought important works of art by significant artists that he liked, that he responded to, and that he found gave a sense of the beauty of life.
“Here, culture will be made with universal harmonies, but with Puerto Rican notes, seeking the fertile synthesis of the old and the new, of our own and the strange; opening new horizons and new perspectives to the human sensibility that has no borders nor nationality.”
—Luis A. Ferré, 1964
All the works in the exhibition bring intriguing stories with potential to spark discussion, but there are stars here too—principally, English painter Frederic, Lord Leighton’s iconic “Flaming June,” ca. 1895. This is the first time this piece has been in Utah and the first time it has traveled in the context of the Museo’s collection. There’s no refuting its bold impact. The deep orange translucent fabric is undeniable in its beauty. There has been much written about the figure’s sleeping pose and the artist’s reference to Greek sculpture and Renaissance artists like Michelangelo. But, as its label states, those are secondary to the sheer power of the beauty depicted.
Frederic, Lord Leighton, “Flaming June,” 1895, oil on canvas, 46 7/8 × 46 7/8 in. (119.1 × 119.1 cm). Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Frederic Leighton’s Flaming June (center) flanked by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Roman Widow (left) and Angelica Kauffman’s The Judgement of Paris (right), all notable for their dramatic frames and emotional resonance. Image by Gina Cavallo.
Flanking “Flaming June” are “The Roman Widow,” 1874, by English Pre-Raphaelite founder Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and “The Judgement of Paris,” ca. 1781, by Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman. Though a predecessor to the Pre-Raphaelites, Kauffman’s Paris shares some of the emotional angst of the other works, mixed nicely with classical poses and a foundation in the academic style. The most notable similarity between these three pieces, though, is their frames—each one a spectacular example of the artistry of frame-making. Many other works in the exhibition have distinctive and dramatic frames, but these three outshine them all.
Where “Flaming June’s” sleeping pose is bold in its sensuality, in contrast, John Singer Sargent’s “Sleeping Girl,” ca. 1890, is starkly silent in an almost Modernist way. Both pieces seem like real humans sleeping—not mythical characters—and it’s not only the color palette that distinguishes them. Unlike many of Sargent’s portraits, this figure has tousled hair, a face that seems to be in the midst of a stressful dream, and a loose, painterly background. Where “Flaming June” lures us in and seems likely to smile if we woke her, “Sleeping Girl” feels like she would scold us for staring if she were to open those eyes.
A captivating expression helps to make a much older work, “Judith with the Head of Holofernes,” ca. 1527-1537, by German painter Lucas Cranach, the Elder, stand out as another star in this exhibition. Judith’s face expresses her triumph over the Assyrian general who was besieging her city in a sly, almost aloof way. This reflects the style of Cranach’s time as does her deep red, finely detailed, bejeweled velvet dress. But Judith is not the average mid-16th-century female figure. There is a spark there and a beauty that contrasts the horror of what she holds. And what she holds is almost more captivating. Holofernes’ head borders on hyper-realism with hair, eyes and skin that seem to represent a living (or recently living) man. Add to that the visceral, super realistic anatomical interior of his neck, and it feels like we are seeing someone whose life was just extinguished.
There are a number of Modern works by Puerto Rican artists in the collection and many of these are also figural. Osiris Delgado’s “Saint,” 1958, depicts a particularly modernist view of a traditional polychrome, clothed saint figure used during Holy Week festivities and processions. Her form is both sculptural and lifelike in a style that suggests Mexican muralists like Rufino Tamayo. Rafael Ferrer’s 1997 “Essay” and Rafael Tufiño’s 1961 “Vita Cola” anchor a section of contemporary works that are large-scale and boldly colored depictions of everyday life on the island. These and others by 18th- and 19th-century Puerto Rican artists give the collection a firm foundation in its home country.
The exhibition’s arrangement blends eras and styles, pairing 19th-century landscapes by artists like Frederic Edwin Church with bold, modern works by Puerto Rican painters. Image by Gina Cavallo.
Gustave Doré, “Cadair Idris,” 1876, oil on canvas, 43 5/16 x 74 13/16 in. (110 x 190 cm). Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
The Ferrer and Tufiño paintings are hung in the gallery with 19th-century landscapes by painters such as American Frederic Edwin Church and French painters Gustave Courbet and Gustave Doré. This juxtaposition of not only style, but era would be a little odd except that almost all the galleries in this exhibition are a mix of both. The section themes were the impetus for this, but the result mimics the commingling you would find in a private collection. Museo founder Luis A. Ferré would likely find this meets his goal of “universal harmonies” for the collection he began gathering 70 years ago.
Other standout pieces include Italian painter Elisabetta Sirani’s “Head of Young Christ,” 1655, “St. Sebastian,” ca. 1640 by Italian Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), and Puerto Rican painter Miguel Pou y Becerra’s “My Son Jaime,” 1927. Pou was a friend and inspiration to Ferré. His painting of his only son oozes the 1920s American Scene Painting or Regionalism style of Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and others. The style’s beauty lies in its connection to daily life, the worker and our connection to the land.
The beauty of the everyday landscape is evident in William Merritt Chase’s “The Hackensack River,” ca. 1882. A quiet view of the infamous river in New Jersey with just a hint of industrialization in the background speaks to a deep appreciation of the land as does the bustle and liveliness of nearby “View of a Port,” ca. 1633, by French painter Claude Lorrain or the idealized views of the landscape in Frederic Edwin Church’s “Morning in the Tropics,” 1872. All three painters capture their surroundings with care and a focused intent to reflect the world they live in. Interestingly, all three have compositions that pull heavily to the left with the bend of Chase’s Hackensack River, Lorrain’s massive tree and shadowed architecture, and the feathery giant tree and single figure under it in Church’s scene.
Frederic Edwin Church, “Morning in the Tropics,” 1872, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 × 46 1/2 in. (73 × 118.1 cm). Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Interactive educational elements—created by the BYU MoA staff—are sprinkled throughout the galleries and are thoughtful, unique, and well matched to the show. The entrance offers postcard handouts that discuss topics such as color, composition, scale and texture. The back wall of one end of the galleries invites visitors to touch fabrics reflected in selected paintings. My favorite handout is titled “So you want to be an art collector?” The recommendations are insightful and presented in a way that is realistic and honestly quite doable for many people.
The exhibition has the look and feel of a traditional encyclopedic art museum with works from the Renaissance through the contemporary. But the mix within each section of the gallery of European, mainland American, and Puerto Rican artists is vibrant and visually captivating. The selection of works by Rodríguez-Negrón is clearly intentional—the best of the collection—and has provided us with paintings that are each singular in their beauty.
The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce, BYU Museum of Art, Provo, through January 3, 2026.
Gina Cavallo has been a curator, registrar, and executive director in museums for over 35 years. She spent many years as an art critic for publications in Phoenix. She began her career at the Phoenix Art Museum and the Heard Museum, was a founding curator at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, spent two terms managing exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and was the Executive Director at the Mission Inn Foundation & Museum in Riverside, California. Her current role is Director of Development for Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle where she also serves as the curator of the Kendall Center Exhibition Series. She moved to Orem in 2024 with her husband, a theatre faculty member at UVU.
Categories: Exhibition Reviews | Visual Arts
