1834 -1903 · United States, Paris, London and Venice

Misty nocturnes, colorful harmonies, sovereign portraits and Japanese settings make Whistler a master of art for art's sake and a decisive precursor of modernity.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1834. His childhood was divided between the United States and Russia, where his father worked as an engineer. After his death, Whistler returned to America and entered the West Point Military Academy in 1851. He was expelled, but his time with topographical drawing and engraving clarified his mastery of the line. In 1855, he left for Paris, briefly following the teaching of Charles Gleyre and frequenting Fantin-Latour, Legros, Courbet and the realist environment. In 1855, he left for Paris, briefly following the teaching of Charles Gleyre and frequenting Fantin-Latour, Legros, Courbet and the realist environment. Installed in London in 1855, he left for Paris, briefly following the teaching of Charles Gleyre and frequenting Fantin-Latour, Legros, Courbet and the realist environment. Installed in London in 1855, he left for Paris, briefly following the teaching of Charles Gleyre and frequenting Fantin-Latour, Legros, Courbet and the realist environment. Installed in London in 1855, he left for Paris, briefly following the teaching of Charles Gleyre and frequenting Fantin-Latour, Legros modern life on the quays with a dense composition attentive to human relationships. In the 1860s, the discovery of Japanese prints and Asian porcelain transformed his art. The Princess of the Land of Porcelain did not describe Japan: she invented a decorative harmony made of silhouette, solid colors, fabrics and asymmetrical space. Whistler gradually rejects the idea that a painting should tell or moralize. He borrows from musical vocabulary the words "symphony", "harmony", "arrangement" and "nocturnal" to draw attention to color, rhythm and tonality. His Nocturnes de la Thames reduce bridges, boats and lights to a few signs suspended in the mist. This freedom provokes criticism from John Ruskin; Whistler won his defamation suit in 1878, but the affair ruined him. He then left for Venice, where his etchings and pastels further renewed his study of the atmosphere. Painter, engraver, decorator and exhibition designer, he also imagined frames and interiors, notably the Peacock Room. His butterfly-shaped signature became an element of the composition. Died in London in 1903, Whistler left a radical conception of the painting as an autonomous visual totality, essential to aesthetics, symbolism and modern art. The selection "James Abbott McNeill Whistler" notably compares Wapping and The Princess of the Land of Porcelain. Its reading favors color.

Whistler does not describe the night: he tunes its tones, until a bridge, a sail or a silhouette becomes the visual equivalent of a note.