While a few books and catalogues have been devoted to American artists’ experience in (and fascination with) Spain, the subject has been given far less treatment than other aspects of the grand tour. Americans in Spain is the first exhibition to present this important period of American art to a wide audience, and it will expand on previous studies by emphasizing a focused range of topics: Spain’s Islamic culture, the country’s economic and political situation and international status at the time, the impact of Spain’s painters on American artists, the Prado Museum as a center of study, and the critical and popular reception of these American painters’ Spanish works.

The exhibition presents more than seventy paintings alongside nineteenth-century photographs, prints, and travel guides. The works on view come from a wide range of national and international collections including the Prado Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musée d’Orsay; Getty Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Victoria and Albert Museum; and others as well as a newly discovered painting by Mary Cassatt from a Madrid private collection never before shown in the United States.

Co-curated by Corey Piper, Brock Curator of American Art, Chrysler Museum of Art and Brandon Ruud, Abert Family Curator of American Art, Milwaukee Art Museum

The Artist-Travelers Project

This interactive mapping companion to the exhibition invites you to experience the places that artists visited during their journeys to Spain and the images they created. Simply zoom in, explore the historical maps, and click on a location to begin your own journey.

A Digital Guide for Americans in Spain

Use your personal device to explore select works from the exhibition in depth. The Americans in Spain app includes bilingual audio commentaries and additional information on thirty-six of the exhibition’s paintings and works on paper. The Americans in Spain app is available on Google Play and the App Store® for iPhone®, iPad®, and iPod touch®.