In January of 2020, a devastating hurricane hit the southwestern part of Puerto Rico, bringing mass destruction in its wake. Power was lost across the island, with a state of emergency being immediately declared. One of the buildings affected by this natural disaster was the Museo de Arte de Ponce, an internationally renowned art museum holding over 4,500 works.
While originally housed in a smaller colonial house after opening in 1959, the museum had been relocated to a gorgeous, modern Caribbean building designed by Edward Durell Stone in 1965. By some miracle, almost the entire collection of art was safe, but the building suffered significant structural damage.
After years of planning, performing safety studies to ensure the building’s integrity and fundraising, the Museo de Arte de Ponce officially broke ground on the reconstruction project in May of this year. The museum has been temporarily closed during its restoration process, with much of the collection being carefully stored for an eventual return to gallery walls.
Perhaps the only positive to come out from this natural disaster is that the Museo de Arte de Ponce created a special exhibition to tour the United States. The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting is currently on display at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art through Sept. 20.
The paintings selected for this exhibition reflect the wide range and diversity of the Museo de Arte de Ponce’s collection, bringing together everything from European masters to Puerto Rican contemporaries. Many of the pieces have not been on view outside Puerto Rico since the museum acquired them as part of its permanent collection. While many exhibits display art chronologically, The Sense of Beauty is organized by themes popular throughout the history of art. Scenes of daily life, landscapes, religion, portraiture and the concept of beauty are all represented, with 16th-century masterpieces presented next to one from the 21st century.
One especially exciting painting on display is an 1895 painting by Sir Frederic Leighton named “Flaming June.” This iconic Victorian-era piece is instantly recognizable, featuring a sleeping woman in a vibrant, marigold-orange dress. “Flaming June” has an interesting history, as it was originally bought by a British newspaper before being loaned to a museum in the early 1900s. How it was turned up behind a chimney in the early 1960s remains a mystery, but since Victorian paintings had fallen out of style, it was considered worthless. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber famously remembers seeing the painting for sale at a charity shop for just £50, but he was unable to purchase it because his grandmother would not lend him the money. In 1963, Museo de Arte de Ponce founder Luis A. Ferré was traveling through Europe purchasing pieces for the museum, when he bought “Flaming June” for less than $1,000. Now, the painting is pivotal in pop culture. At the 2026 Met Gala, Vogue Magazine’s new Head of Editorial Content, Chloe Malle, wore a custom-made dress inspired by “Flaming June” fitting of the “Fashion is Art” theme. Leighton’s masterpiece has even been referred to as the “Mona Lisa of the Southern Hemisphere.”
And that’s only one piece; artists that are both recognizable and novel are showcased within The Sense of Beauty. Visitors can expect to find works by Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco de Goya, William Merritt Chase, James Tissot, John Singer Sargent and many more throughout the gallery.
For more information on The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting or to plan your trip to the museum, visit okcmoa.com.
