He receives a letter from Henry C. Marquand (became the second president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1890) requesting a portrait of his wife in the United States. Sargent isn't interested in painting in America and triples his fee quote in the hopes of discouraging him, but Marguand accepts, and the portrait is to be painted at Newport, Rode Island -- this would eventually take him to United States in the fall for his first American portraits.

But first, March: at the New English Art Club, London, he's a juror for the exhibition and he submits Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife [p](1885) for his own work. 

April: John's love of Spanish music continues as he contributes six illustrations for his friend Alma Strettell's book Spanish and Italian Folk Songs [p]. She had become another sometimes member of the Broadway colony of artists which John continues to visit and he paints her 4 times (n/a).

May: at the Royal Academy, he exhibits Mrs. William Playfair [p] and  Carnation, Lilly, Lilly, Rose [p](1885-86). Carnation, Lilly is bought for 700 pounds.

Summer arrives and he may have painted with Monet at Giverny or in the summer of 1889 and for the next couple of years would experiment in Monet style impressionism.

On September 17, he sails for the United States and once there paints a number of portraits in Newport Boston, and in New York. Unlike the cool reception of England, he finds that America has warmly embraced him.

October, an essay from Henry James on Sargent pronouncing him one of America's best artists appears in Harper's Magazine.

("John S. Sargent" by Henry James)

Suddenly, everyone wants to be painted by Sargent. Late October thru December he's in New York and Boston and paints Mrs. Edward Darley Boit [p]and Mrs. Charles E. Inches [p].

In the U.S. he meets with architect Stanford White who would later connect him with the Boston Public Library.

He begins a portrait of Isabelle Stewart Gardner, whom he had met in London and she introduces him to an aspiring young artist -- Dennis Miller Bunker whom Sargent befriends.   

In January he holds a major exhibition of his paintings in his first one-man show at the St. Botolph's Club, Boston. It runs January 28th thru February 11th. The show included El Jaleo [p], and six portraits: (Daughters of Edward Darley Boit [p], Mrs. Boit [p], Isabella Stewart Gardner [p] , Mrs. Marquand [p], Mrs. Charles E. Inches[p], Mrs. Brandegee), three Venetian studies, and a single watercolor. The show is a huge success. 

With the Boston show underway and glowing reception from the public at the opening, John travels to New York at the end of January. He stays at the Clarendon Hotel and has his studio at the southwest side of Washington Square. Here he paints six commissions, among whom are members of the Vanderbilt family. Sargent raised his fee for portraits but it only makes demand for his work grow in the eyes of Americans. 

Isabella Stewart Gardner through Mrs. Jacob Wendell were portraits done in America. 

March: R.A.M. Stevenson, a former art student with Sargent in Paris and now an important rising art critic, writes an article on Sargent published in the Art Journal praising the work of Sargent to American readers.

April 2nd, on the eve of exhibition season and after what had proved to be a phenomenal success in America – well beyond his wildest expectations -- financially and critically; and beyond anything he had seen since his popularity and promise in Paris over four years
ago, he hosts a dinner for over thirty fellow artists in New York in celebration. The party reportedly went on all night and some artists weren't seen for days afterwards.

April- May exhibitions: at the National Academy of Design, New York, he shows Mrs. Charles Inches and two Venetian studies. In London at the first New Gallery exhibition he shows a profile study of Monet (n/a). At the Royal Academy, London, he shows Cecil Harrison, Mrs. Henry Marquand [p] and Mrs. Edward Darley Boit [p]. And at the Paris Salon he shows  Mrs. Playfair [p].

May 19th he sails back to England from New York to Liverpool and finds his father ill whom had suffered from a stroke.  He settles his family at Calcot by June or July, on the River Kent near Reading (not far from the Broadway colony) where he spends the summer with his father, family, and friends. 

He paints his sister Violet in A Morning Walk.

In July, Dennis Miller Bunker visits and paints with Sargent at Calcot. Other guests include Flora Priestly, Vernon Lee and Monet.