Priceless Piece

SMU's Meadows Museum acquires last painting by famed Spanish artist

Beach at Portici by Mariano Fortuny, Meadows Museum

The Meadows Museum has acquired the last painting of famed Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny, Beach at Portici.

Photo courtesy of Meadows Museum

Spanish art enthusiasts have a new reason to visit the Meadows Museum. The museum announced on Thursday, January 18 that it has acquired Beach at Portici, the final painting of famed 19th century Spanish artist Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838-1874), for an undisclosed amount.

The nearly finished piece depicts a summer day at the beach and demonstrates Fortuny’s signature ability to capture light in paint. It also reflects essential elements of Fortuny’s style, including dynamically posed figures, the use of strong architectural elements to define the space around the figures, and brushwork that anticipates the rise of Impressionism, museum officials say.

“Painted in Italy, sold in Paris after his death, and owned exclusively by American collectors in the decades since, Beach at Portici embodies the international character of Fortuny’s brief career,” says Mark Roglán, the Linda P. and William A. Custard director of the Meadows Museum, in a press release. “For these reasons, as well as its obvious beauty, it makes a perfect acquisition for the Meadows.”

In 1893, Beach at Portici was featured in the esteemed American Pavilion’s “Loan Collection of Foreign Masterpieces Owned in the United States” at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, considered one of the most important international exhibitions of the 19th century.

Beach at Portici will be on view at the Meadows Museum on the SMU campus beginning January 19. And from June 24 through September 23, it will be the subject of a focused exhibition, "At the Beach: Mariano Fortuny y Marsal and William Merritt Chase," paired with a loan from Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Chase’s Idle Hours (c. 1894).

The new acquisition complements the only oil painting by the artist currently in the museum’s collection: a small study composition of the same stretch of beach at Portici.

The Meadows Museum is the leading U.S. institution focused on the study and presentation of the art of Spain.

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Season Announcement

Kitchen Dog Theater unleashes immersive 2025 season in new Dallas space

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Safe at Home

Photo by Jordan Fraker

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Seven years after announcing it had purchased a building in the Design District, Kitchen Dog Theater is finally ready to move into its new home.

The third and final production of its 2025 season — the theater company's 34th — will take place all around the new "Doghouse." The other two productions will follow the immersive format at non-traditional performance spaces that was established last season.

With three fully produced events that each run the gambit from captivating and gutsy to heartfelt and hilarious, the monthly New Works Festival Staged Readings Series returns, as does the 23rd annual PUP Fest, nurturing high school talent from all over DFW.

First up is the area premiere of Will Eno's Wakey, Wakey, directed by KDT's artistic director Tina Parker and starring KDT co-artistic director Christopher Carlos.

"Is it now? I thought I had more time." These first words in Will Eno's play are spoken by Guy, a man who knows, like all of us on some level, that he is about to die. The play questions why we are here and the journeys that everyone takes to eventually get to the same place. Performances will take place at Expo Park, 840 Exposition Avenue, and run February 7-23, 2025.

Production No. 2 is full of mystery: The title and performance location will be announced soon and run in March/April 2025.

The Happiness Gymby Ken Weitzman closes out the season in August 2025 (exact dates TBA).

This regional premiere is a joyous, experiential event based on the science of well-being. Participants take part in a curated theatrical experience meant to boost their sense of happiness, joy, and feelings of connection. This one-of-a-kind project will be the soft opening to Kitchen Dog’s new theater and will take place all over the entire facility, giving patrons unparalleled access to KDT’s new home.

From March to July 2025, the 26th annual 2025 New Works Festival will showcase four-to-five staged readings of the newest and most exciting local and regional playwrights working in contemporary theater today. Each reading will feature some of DFW's most accomplished actors and directors and will take place at different venues across DFW.

For its 23rd annual event, PUP Fest will feature six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by DFW high school students, featuring student actors directed by area professional directors. PUP Fest is the culminating event of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players. Performance location is TBA, but the event will happen June 7, 2025.

For more information, visit kitchendogtheater.org or call 214-953-1055.

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