Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water
James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)1872
View the original$19
Type
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
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.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 51 × 76.7 cm (20 1/16 × 30 3/16 in.)
Museum record · 3 owners · 34 exhibitions
Provenance
- The artist, 1872.
- Alfred Chapman (1839–1917), London, June 1874.
- H. Wunderlich and Co., New York, by January 1900; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1900.
Exhibitions
- Probably London, Dudley Gallery, 1872, as Nocturne in Grey and Gold.
- Possibly London, International Exhibition, 1873, as Nocturne in Grey and Gold.
- Possibly London, Pall Mall, Mr. Whistler’s Exhibition, 1874, as Nocturne in Grey and Gold.
- London, Grosvenor Gallery, Summer Exhibition, May 1879, as Nocturne in Blue and Gold.
- London, The Grosvenor Gallery, 1882.
- Possibly Paris, Petit Palais, 1883 as Nocturne en bleu et or.
- London, Goupil Gallery, Nocturnes, Marines & Chevalet Pieces, Mar–Apr. 1892.
- Possibly London, Goupil Gallery, 1898, as Nocturne—Blue and Gold.
- Philadelphia, The Academy of Fine Arts, Late 1900 to about Mar. 1, 1901.
- Boston, Copley Hall, Oil Paintings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Drawings.
- Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Feb. 1904.
- London, The New Gallery, Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late James McNeill Whistler, Feb. 22–Apr. 15, 1905.
- Paris, Palais de L’Ecole des Beaux–Arts, Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler, May 1905.
- Cincinnati Art Museum, Seventeenth Annual Exhibition of American Art, May 21–July 20, 1910.
- Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Lent from American Collections, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933.
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Landscape Paintings, May 14–Sept. 30, 1934.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Summer Exhibitions, July 20–Oct. 29, 1939.
- Art Gallery of Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Great Paintings in Aid of Allied Merchant Seamen, Feb. 5–Mar. 5, 1944.
- New York, The William MacBeth Inc., Whistler Exhibition, Apr. 17–May 14, 1947.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Cassatt, Sargent, and Whistler, Jan. 14–Feb. 25, 1954; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mar. 25–May 23.
- Peoria, IL, Lakeview Center for the Arts and Sciences, Two Hundred Years of American Painting, 1965, no catalogue numbers or page numbers but reproduced in black and white.
- Art Institute of Chicago, James McNeill Whistler, Jan. 13, 1968–Feb. 25, 1968; Utica, NY, Munson–Williams–Proctor Institute, Mar. 17, 1968–Apr. 28, 1968.
- Berlin, Nationalgalerie Staatliche Museen Preussicher Kulturbesitz, James McNeil Whistler (1834–1903), 1969.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Art at The Time of the Centennial, June 19–Aug. 8, 1976, no catalogue or checklist published, as Nocturne in Black and Gold: Entrance to Southampton Water.
- Albi, France, Musée Toulouse–Lautrec, Trésors Impressionnistes du Musée de Chicago, June 27–Aug. 31, 1980, Jean Devoisins.
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, In Pursuit of Beauty, Americans and the Aesthetic Movement, Oct. 23, 1986–Jan. 11, 1987, Doreen Bolger Burke, et al., ill..
- Nagaoka, Japan, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Masterworks of Modern Art from the Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 20–May 29, 1994; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sept. 25, 1994.
- London, Tate Gallery, James McNeill Whistler, Oct. 13, 1994–Jan. 8, 1995, Richard Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, cat., ill.; Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Feb. 6–Apr. 30, 1995; Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, May 28–Aug. 20, 1995.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography, June 6–Aug. 30, 1998; Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Oct. 2, 1998–Jan. 3, 1999.
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris Proust, Nov. 9, 1999–Feb. 2, 2000.
- Atlanta, High Museum of Art, After Whistler: The Artist and His Influence on American Painting, Nov. 22, 2003–Feb. 8, 2004, ill.; Detroit Institute of Arts, Mar. 13–June 6, 2004.
- Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Turner Whistler Monet: Impressionist Visions, June 12–Sept. 12, 2004, Katherine Lochnan, ill.; Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Oct. 12, 2004–Jan. 17, 2005; London, Tate Britain, Feb. 10–May 15, 2005.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler and Roussel: Linked Visions, June 20, 2015–Sept. 27, 2015, online catalog.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Whistler's Mother: An American Icon Returns to Chicago, Mar. 4–May 21, 2017, no cat. Shanghai Museum, Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945, Sept. 28, 2018–Jan. 6, 2019.
