Explore the Description of this artwork, El Jaleo.
Almost 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, El Jaleo is broadly painted in a nearly monochromatic palette, but for spots of red at the right and an orange at left, which is reminiscent of the lemons Édouard Manet inserted into several of his large paintings. At odds with the academic practice of carefully modulated tones, Sargent dramatized the contrast between rich blacks and the shining white skirt of the dancer, caught in the strong footlights and painted briskly so as to suggest movement. The lighting also creates long and eerie shadows on the rear wall that comprises nearly half the painting.
The female dancer, leaning asymmetrically, is placed to imply forward motion, from left to right across the canvas. She is wearing a large, embroidered shawl wrapped around her shoulders, illustrating common flamenco costuming. The dancer's pose, with the outstretched left arm, is a depiction of standard flamenco dance technique and style.El Jaleo is the most theatrical of Sargent's early major works. The lack of a barrier between the viewer and dancer helps create the illusion that we are present at the actual event; the manipulation of space and lighting communicates the energetic rhythms of the dance, its sound and movement.El Jaleo is an example of Hispanism, the phenomenon of widespread fascination with Spanish culture throughout Europe and America in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.The painting has been called both an example of John Singer Sargent's Impressionism and also his early affinity with the Realist movement.A brief shot in the 1960 movie The Alamo re-creates the scene portrayed in El Jaleo, in fulfillment of a promise to do so that actor John Wayne, who directed it, had given movie executive Spyros Skouras.
Impressionism Realist John Wayne John Singer Sargent left flamenco Spyros Skouras The Alamo Édouard Manet