James McNeill Whistler

In an era of great change and great beauty, the character of James McNeill Whistler emerged. Considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th-century art, he was a contemporary of the Impressionists, much admired by Van Gogh and Manet. Boldly experimental and famously witty, Whistler disrupted the strict conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of a new cult of beauty, creating “art for art’s sake” and earning himself a place in the history of great art. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings “arrangements”, “harmonies” and “nocturnes”, emphasizing the importance of tonal harmony in his work.