The painting El Jaleo (1882) by John Singer Sargent made the artist’s reputation when it was first exhibited at the 1882 Paris Salon. The enormous canvas (237x352 cm) that depicts a flamenco performance became an overnight sensation with French audiences and critics.

The painting is an example of Hispanism, an intricate 19th-century phenomenon in Europe and the United States that refers to a widespread fascination with everything related to Spanish culture. Hispanism had a pervasive influence in different fields. Some famous examples include literary works by Theophile Gautier and Washington Irving, and George Bizet’s opera Carmen that premiered in Paris in 1875. However, for Sargent, who spent the autumn of 1879 in Spain, the subject of flamenco was more than a fashion choice. The trip to Spain was a formative experience: he copied works of old Spanish masters at the Prado Museum and made live sketches of folk dancers. While traveling through Southern Spain, he observed flamenco performances and became particularly fond of Andalusian Gypsy music. Thus, the choice of subject for El Jaleo was likely a combination of the growing market for exotic imagery and the artist’s admiration for Spanish music and dance.

The title El Jaleo refers to the uproar during the performance, when the audience encourages the dancers by clapping and chanting over the guitar music. The artist painted El Jaleo three years after his trip to Spain in a studio in France with the help of professional models, costumes and props. Even though Sargent's models were neither dancers nor Spaniards, the artist used his memories and knowledge of flamenco to capture an authentic atmosphere of dynamic performance. In this painting, the arrangement of figures conforms to the traditional presentation of flamenco. The performance is set on a small stage, and the dancer has other performers behind her in a line or a semicircle, leaving her little room to move. This setting also allows the musicians to follow the tempo set by the dancer as they play the accompanying music.

In producing El Jaleo Sargent worked methodically to achieve the spontaneity and drama of flamenco. He created many sketches and also the preparatory painting Spanish Dancer (1882). The dancer’s contorted pose is one of the most complex elements, that demonstrates the mastery of the flamenco technique and style. In the same way, the sketch Head and hands of seated musicians (1888) is part of the preliminary studies for the singer on the dancer’s right. The singer is caught amid a moving performance with his mouth wide open and his head thrown back.

After the Salon in Paris, El Jaleo was sold to Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, a retired American diplomat. In 1914, Coolidge gave the painting to his good friend Isabella Stewart Gardner - a leading American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. The painting was the centerpiece of the music room at the Gardener home in Boston, and today it remains in the city hanging at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.