1: Turner's Legacy 2: From Realism to the 'Impression' 3: Whistler's 'Nocturnes'
4: Painting in Series 5: Turner and the Thames 6: Return to the Thames 7: Venice

Room 3: Whistler's 'Nocturnes'

Room 3: Whistler's 'Nocturnes' Tate Photography

Towards the end of the 1860s, Whistler began to reject Realism for Aestheticism. He was still painting modern landscapes, but now chose to veil the ugliness of industrial London by painting it at night. He prepared for these pictures by going out in a boat on the Thames after dark, committing the scenes to memory so that he could work on his paintings back in his studio.

Whistler called these revolutionary works 'Nocturnes', deliberately comparing their lack of narrative content to music. Their compositions are startlingly simple, the colours reduced to a few delicate tonal harmonies. He produced them using paint so thin it was as translucent as watercolour.

JM Whistler Nocturne: Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge 1872-77 View in Tate Collection Oil on canvas, 66.6 x 50.2 cm Tate

JM Whistler Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket 1875 Enlarge image The Detroit Institute of Arts

Most Victorian viewers were scandalised by their absence of subject matter and lack of finish. John Ruskin attacked them in print, prompting Whistler to sue him for libel and leading to a celebrated court case.