1866 -1902 · Thames, Valparaiso, Venice and evening memory

Whistler transforms the night into musical painting: bridge, lagoon, fireworks or port are reduced to a few tones of blue, silver, gray and gold.

Whistler's nocturnal is born from several convergent experiences. In Valparaiso in 1866, he painted the port at dusk and discovered how a few lights could organize a vast dark expanse. In London, from Chelsea, he observed the Thames, the bridges, the barges and the Cremorne fires. His patron Frederick Leyland suggested the term "nocturnal", borrowed from music, to designate these landscapes where the subject remains but where tonal accord becomes essential. Whistler goes out in the evening, retains the arrangement of masses and lights, then works from memory in the workshop. Whistler goes out in the evening, retains the arrangement of masses and lights, then works from memory in the workshop. Whistler goes out in the evening, retains the arrangement of masses and lights, then works from memory in the workshop. Whistler goes out in the evening, retains the arrangement of masses and lights, then works from memory in the workshop. Whistler goes out in the evening, retains the arrangement of masses and lights, then works from memory in the workshop. This method takes painting away from literal description. In Battersea's Old Bridge, a pile dark cuts the format according to a framing inspired by Japanese prints. Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Wheel of Fire transforms a Cremorne fireworks display into a shower of sparks. When critic John Ruskin accused Whistler of throwing a can of paint in the public's face, the artist attacked him for defamation in 1878. He won symbolically but received paltry damage and emerged ruined from the trial. In Venice in 1879 -1880, Saint Mark and the Lagoon extended the nocturnal in an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Amsterdam, Southampton, Bognor and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water and evening. Saint Mark and the lagoon extend the nocturnal into an architecture dissolved by water balance. The "Nocturnes by James McNeill Whistler" selection notably compares Nocturne: Bleu et Or, Saint-Marc, Venice and Nocturne in blue and silver: The lagoon, Venice. His reading favors color.

Whistler's nocturnal does not describe night: it retains the few lights that still allow the world to stand in the darkness.