Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water

Notes from the museum

In the early 1870s James McNeill Whistler took a radical step toward abstraction with his Nocturnes series. In keeping with his art-for-art’s-sake creed, these works capture the stillness of evening while evoking a connection to music. Unlike his earlier marine paintings, the subject of this work—an inlet along the English Channel near Southampton—is obscured by the approaching night. Large shipping vessels appear as ghostly shapes, reduced to shadowy forms by the deepening twilight, while the only points of brightness come from the subtle reflections of lights and the fragmented orb of the moon. The setting thus serves primarily as a vehicle for Whistler’s interest in the harmonies of muted color amid darkness.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago (open access). Our full story for this work is coming soon.

Slow Look

1. The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
2. The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
3. The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
4. One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
5. The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake".

Painter profile →