An ideal introduction to the work of John Singer Sargent, Sargent: The Masterworks features 100 of the American artist’s most beloved paintings. Drawn from all aspects of his diverse oeuvre – portraits, landscapes, mural commissions – in oil and watercolour, the selection reflects a holistic approach to Sargent’s work to consider how different efforts across genres and media informed each other. This lush general survey draws on both private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s infamous Madame X.

New scholarship provides both an essential overview and a more subtle understanding of the American painter. Technically brilliant as a portraitist, Sargent remained indebted to both the old masters he studied and his modern contemporaries. His eclectic and international circle influenced his art and encouraged him to push the boundaries of genre, most strikingly in Sargent’s friendship with Monet and consequent exposure to Impressionism. Sargent’s cosmopolitan upbringing and education enabled a roving mind and made him perfectly suited to capture the upwardly mobile bourgeoisie and aristocrats of his era. His sensual portraits capture his sitters with startling vibrancy, as though they have just stepped away from the viewer’s world. Given his tremendous success it is all the more surprising that Sargent turned to plein air painting after 1900, though as scholar Stephanie L. Herdich reveals, it is here that the painter unveils his personality, in series containing his most brilliant and personal images. Sargent was considered one of the greatest portraitists and watercolorists of his era and remains a vital voice today.