Self-portrait

James McNeill Whistler

American · 1834–1903

Impressionism

American-born painter working in London and Paris who reoriented painting away from subject toward tone, mood, and colour harmony. His Nocturnes reduced the Thames at night to near-abstract fields of colour, anticipating abstraction. Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, known as Whistler's Mother, remains one of the most recognised paintings in the world.

On now and coming soon exhibitions

James McNeill Whistler

Until Sep 27

First major European Whistler retrospective in 30 years at Tate Britain

"Then, in 1865, Whistler suddenly paints the sea as if it was a piece of silk decorated with white lace and a ribbon. Green and Grey, Channel is a stunning declaration of artistic independence. He takes the sea, the element humans can't control, the roaring theme of Turner's visions, and makes it a painterly plaything."

— The Guardian