James McNeill Whistler, 1834–1903, American, active in Britain (from 1859)
Title:
Nocturne in Blue and Silver
Date:
1872 to 1878, butterfly added ca. 1885
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
17 1/2 x 24 inches (44.5 x 61 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1994.19
Gallery Label:
Depicted at nighttime and cloaked in fog and smoke, Whistler’s haunting Thames landscape can be difficult to read. The buildings of Morgan’s Crucible Company at the top left as well as the river barge and its solitary bargeman all fade into the murky gloom. The moodiness of the scene is the result not of the natural atmospherics caused by the river, but rather of the increase of smoke and pollution in the London sky due to unchecked industrialization. The artist adopted the word “nocturne” in the painting’s title from Frédéric Chopin’s musical compositions, implying that viewers are meant to appreciate the work for its formal “harmonies” of color and tone. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
