Chalets, Breithorn, Mürren

Our John Singer Sargent prints bring together the work of the leading portrait painter of his generation. Sargent painted elegant society sitters with bold, quick brushwork and made more than 2,000 watercolors on his travels. This collection covers the full range: famous portraits like Madame X, garden scenes, Venetian canals, Alpine streams, North African streets and the war painting Gassed.

About John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent was born in Florence, Italy, on January 12, 1856, to American parents who lived as travelling expatriates. He was an American citizen but spent most of his life in Europe.

In 1874, aged 18, he went to Paris and joined the studio of the portrait painter Carolus-Duran, who taught his students to paint directly, at the first touch. Trips to Spain and Holland let him study Velázquez and Frans Hals. In 1884 his portrait of Madame Pierre Gautreau, now known as Madame X, became the scandal of the Salon season, and French commissions dried up.

In 1886 he moved to London, taking Whistler's former studio on Tite Street in Chelsea. Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose was a hit at the Royal Academy in 1887, and he became a leading portrait painter in Britain and America, with major mural commissions in Boston.

Around 1907 he tried to step away from formal portraits. He turned to landscapes and watercolors, spending summers in the Alps and travelling to Venice, Spain and North Africa. As an official war artist in the First World War he painted Gassed. He died in London in 1925.

Style and Subjects

Sargent could draw with a brush. Up close, a sleeve or a gondola is a few loose strokes that snap into focus from a few steps back. His commissioned portraits follow the grand manner of earlier masters, but his teacher's direct method and his love of Velázquez and Frans Hals give them a fresh, painterly surface.

He admired Monet and painted him at work outdoors, but he never fully became an Impressionist: his figures stay solid and clearly drawn. Outdoors his palette brightens, and he liked unusual, off-center compositions that still feel modern.

Famous Works

• Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau) (1884), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. His portrait of an American in Paris became the scandal of the 1884 Salon.
• The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (1882), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. An unsentimental group portrait of four sisters, with echoes of Velázquez.
• El Jaleo (1882), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. A Spanish dance scene that grew out of his travels in Spain.
• Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885–86), Tate Britain, London. Painted outdoors in the English village of Broadway and bought for the nation in 1887.
• Mrs. Hugh Hammersley (1892), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A London hostess on a sofa, one of his first portraits of glamorous English women.
• Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892), Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. One of his best-known society portraits.
• Gassed (1919), Imperial War Museum, London. Over six meters wide, it shows the aftermath of a gas attack he saw on the Western Front.

Decorating with Sargent Prints

Sargent art prints of society portraits suit rooms with a bit of formality: a dining room, entrance hall or living room with dark wood and rich fabrics. Madame X and Lady Agnew of Lochnaw work as single large statements. For a softer mood, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose brings a garden into a bedroom or reading nook.

His travel watercolors are lighter and easy to group. Venetian scenes such as The Rialto and Gondoliers' Siesta suit a hallway or kitchen, and Alpine Pool or Lake O'Hara fit a bathroom or home office. Sunlit works such as White Walls in Sunlight, Morocco suit warm, neutral interiors.

FAQ

What art movement was John Singer Sargent part of?

Sargent was a portrait painter in the grand manner. His outdoor work shows the influence of Impressionism, but he never fully adopted it.

What is John Singer Sargent's most famous painting?

Madame X (1884). The portrait caused a scandal at the Paris Salon, and Sargent later sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Where can I see original Sargent paintings?

Major works are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and Tate Britain and the Imperial War Museum in London. His murals are at the Boston Public Library.

How can you recognize a Sargent painting?

Look for loose, fast brushstrokes that read as precise detail from a distance, solidly drawn figures and compositions that are often cropped or set at an angle.

Was John Singer Sargent American or British?

He was an American citizen, born in Florence to American parents. He trained in Paris and lived in London from 1886 until his death.

Related Artists

• Carolus-Duran — Sargent's teacher in Paris, who taught him to paint directly
• Diego Velázquez — the Spanish master Sargent copied in the Prado and echoed in El Jaleo and the Boit daughters
• Frans Hals — Dutch portraitist whose free brushwork Sargent studied in Haarlem
• Claude Monet — friend Sargent visited and painted at Giverny in 1885
• James McNeill Whistler — fellow American in London whose former Tite Street studio Sargent took