Uptown Visions at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library

By ADAM ZUCKER July 15th, 2026

New York City is commonly considered to be one of the most culturally diverse metropolises in the world, with approximately one-third of its residents born outside the country. New Yorkers are fortunate to be able to live as global citizens, just by taking the subway from one heterogeneous neighborhood to the next. Perhaps where New York shines best as a worldly city, is through its range of art and cultural offerings. Of course, there are some of the largest museums in the world, but the city also has more specialized institutions, where visitors can have intimate encounters with art from specific regions. These venues are truly indicative of the living legacy of New York City’s international community. 

Being that New York City is home to roughly 2.5 million Hispanic and Latino residents, the Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Washington Heights is a vital resource and reflection of one of the city’s largest ethnic groups. Founded 122 years ago in 1904, the building at 3741 Broadway (between 155th and 156th Streets), has been the foundation for all forms of artistic production from Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and the Philippines. The esteemed collection includes renowned paintings by Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, El Greco, and Joaquín Sorolla. Additionally, there is a rotating exhibition schedule that represents both historical and contemporary visions of Hispanic heritage and culture. 

One of the main artworks in the collection is Sorolla’s Visions of Spain, which occupies its own dedicated gallery space. It is a mural-sized painting that consists of 14 individual canvases, measuring around 12-feet-tall and 200-feet-long in total. The painting was commissioned by the Hispanic Society’s founder Archer M. Huntington in 1911, completed by Sorolla in 1919, and permanently exhibited at the Hispanic Society  in 1926. It depicts various traditional and iconic people, places, and things from different regions of Spain. It’s a concise history lesson, presented in an Impressionist style that evokes a naturalistic perspective of the kinds of sights and experiences a person would be enveloped with as they travel throughout Spain. 

Harlem resident and contemporary artist, Tom Sanford, has had many memorable encounters with the painting. These interactions, as well as the fact 2026 marks the 100 year anniversary of Visions of Spain being on view, inspired him to paint a 21st century rendition of it, called Uptown Visions. Sanford’s 40-foot-long installation of painted plywood cutouts is spread across an ornate wrought iron gate in Audubon Terrace, right outside the Hispanic Society Museum and Library. The temporary installation is a part of Art on Audubon Terrace, an annual event presented by the Hispanic Society Museum and Library and the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA). 

Tom Sanford, Uptown Visions at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.
Image courtesy of the artist.

Sanford’s upbeat style of caricature-esque figures is a stark contrast to Sorolla’s more realistic approach, but together the two installations offer a very unique call and response, which highlights the rich Hispanic lineage of upper Manhattan. Uptown Visions is an especially apt addition to a dynamic neighborhood. Sanford’s bold use of color and gestural brush strokes, manifests the energy of the surrounding environment. Rhythmic forms with joyful expressions of daily life, offer us a narrative that is characteristic of the communal spirit within West Harlem and Washington Heights. Blissful movement is an element that is clearly witnessed when walking around these neighborhoods, which are consistently pulsating with music, hurried locomotion, and lively conversation. The streets, stoops, and sidewalks are all vibrantly shared cultural spaces in this city, and Sanford’s Uptown Visions echoes that vitality well. 

Sanford’s artwork presents the quotidian life in upper Manhattan as a beautiful experience. There is never a dull moment, which is true for both the artwork and the actual neighborhood. Some of the familiar sights reflected in the Uptown Visions are children enthusiastically lined up at a Frío Frío cart for a cool, refreshing treat; a game of streetball with a makeshift hoop; men sitting on milkcrates playing a game of dominoes; and a jazz cat in a sleek black suit playing the trumpet, while an actual cat brushes up against his leg. To further indicate a diverse array of cultural identity, pigeons, the unofficial bird of New York City, carry flags from Latin American countries and Puerto Rico in their beaks.  

Tom Sanford, Uptown Visions at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.
Image courtesy of the artist.

New Yorkers, especially those with a fondness for street art’s impact on the city, will revel in the references Uptown Visions makes to legendary local writers. Stickers affixed to a wooden plank serving as a backboard for the streetball players, spell out the names and tags of prolific street artists like Brooklyn’s Kest Gak. Plastered to a fire hydrant, is a shoutout to TAKI 183, a famous early graffiti tagger who branded his name all over Washington Heights during the 1960s and 70s.     

Sanford is conscious of how a work of art can act as a multicultural monument when in a public space. He also is keen to use painting as a counterbalance to the fast pace of reality. Both Visions of Spain and Uptown Visions utilize painting as a vessel that contains myriad amounts of information and imagery, while slowing down the hustle and bustle of the actual scenes and scenarios they are representing. Sanford’s astute attention to detail and skill for cramming in as much information as possible, without seeming too busy, is a major reason for the success and appreciation of his tableaux. 

Tom Sanford, Uptown Visions at the Hispanic Society Museum and Library.
Image courtesy of the artist.

Sanford’s homage to West Harlem and Washington Heights is a tour-de-force. It calls to mind an uptown rendition of Red Grooms and Mimi Gross’ electrifying installations that epitomized the downtown scene during the 1960s. This is a work of art that is both fun and meaningful, and shows a passion, understanding, and reverence for all walks of life. Like his esteemed painterly cutouts of Knicks stars, which have been getting ample attention in light of their championship season, Uptown Visions is a personally profound project that also holds broad appeal.

Tom Sanford's Uptown Visions will be on view through November 1, 2026.