¡Otra Margarita! (Another Marguerite!)

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida

1892

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida based this composition on an incident he witnessed on a third-class railway carriage between Madrid and Valencia, where two civil guards were accompanying a female prisoner who was being brought to justice. The name Margarita might be read as a reference to a slang term for prostitutes used in Valencia at the time. Even more significantly, the name suggests a connection to Goethe’s tragic play Faust, in which Margaret (also called Gretchen) commits infanticide after being seduced by the protagonist Faust. Sorolla used meticulous detail here to augment the misery of the scene, painting from models in an actual railway car rather than in a studio. The spartan space heightens the prisoner’s isolation, and intense sunlight highlights her face even while she slumps over in shame or defeat. Almost theatrical in its character, this painting was a milestone in Sorolla’s career. It made his reputation in the United States, earning a Medal of Honor at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. [Permanent collection label, 2017]

Artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spanish, 1863–1923)
Title ¡Otra Margarita! (Another Marguerite!)
Date 1892
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions unframed | 51 3/8 x 78 15/16 x 1 3/8 in.
Credit line Gift of Charles Nagel, Sr., 1894
Object number WU 2930

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme Emotions and Affect
Comparative Arts
Poetry and Writing

Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light
The National Gallery (London, England), 03/18/2019 - 07/07/2019

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

Sorolla in America
Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, 12/08/2013 - 04/20/2014
San Diego Museum of Art, 05/30/2014 - 08/26/2014
Sorolla y Estados Unidos, Fundación MAPFRE, 09/23/2014 - 01/11/2015

Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923)
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain), 05/26/2009 - 09/13/2009

Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830–1960
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 09/13/2008 - 01/18/2009
Walker Art Gallery, 04/18/2008 - 08/27/2008

Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso
Albuquerque Museum, 08/21/2005 - 11/27/2005
The Rebirth of Spanish Painting, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas), 12/11/2005 - 02/26/2006

Beginnings: The Taste of the Founders
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/21/2000 - 03/19/2000

Sorolla and Zuloaga: Dos visiones para un cambio de siglo (Two Visions for the Turn of the Century)
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain), 12/15/1997 - 03/15/1998
Fundación MAPFRE (Madrid, Spain), 04/07/1998 - 06/28/1998

The Painter Joaquin Sorolla
San Diego Museum of Art, 03/22/1911

World’s Columbian Exposition
Art Palace, Fine Arts Building, 05/01/1893 - 10/30/1893

Exposicion Internacional de Madrid
Venue Unknown (Madrid, Spain)

1894
Charles Nagel, Sr., St. Louis

Inscription LL: "J. Sorolla 1892"

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.