Existing comment:
"Nocturne: Grey and Silver -- Chelsea Embankment, Winter," 1879, by James McNeill Whistler, oil on canvas.
Whistler did not begin to title his paintings of night scenes "nocturnes" until 1872. In 1878, he explained that he had adopted this musical term in order "to indicate an artistic interest alone, divesting the picture of any outside anecdotal interest which might have been otherwise attached to it. A nocturne is an arrangement of fine form and color first. The picture is throughout a problem that I attempt to solve. I make use of any incident or object in nature, that will bring about this symmetrical result." |