Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-abbott-mcneill-whistler-598" aria-label="More by James Abbott McNeill Whistler" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Abbott McNeill Whistler</a>
Nocturne Black and Gold  Fire Wheel
Bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919
architecture
Chelsea, Cremorne Gardens
England
firework display
garden structures
leisure and pastimes
lifestyle and culture
music and entertainment
musical analogy
night
park
places
society
times of the day
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
UK countries and regions
UK London
<p>This is one of the nocturnes that Whistler painted of Cremorne Gardens, at the west end of Chelsea beside the river Thames. The gardens were popular as a place of amusement, offering concerts, dancing and, as in this painting, a nightly display of fireworks. Cremorne was closed in 1877 due to repeated complaints from the neighbourhood about the noise and rowdiness. Whistler’s nocturnes provide a sense of the tranquillity of the Thames at night, and are far removed from the teeming waterfront of the day.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
2002-10-11
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2002-10-11
Whistler Sargent and Steer - Frist
Tate partnerships & programmes
3 November 2003 – 23 February 2004
2004-02-23
3 November 2003 – 23 February 2004
2004-02-23
2003-11-03
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2003-11-03
The Origins of Abstraction
Loan-out
17 October 2005 – 8 January 2006
2006-01-08
17 October 2005 – 8 January 2006
2006-01-08
2005-10-17
Leeds Museums and Galleries (Leeds, UK)
http://www.leeds.gov.uk
2005-10-17
Something of the Night
Loan-out
6 December 2006 – 4 June 2007
2007-06-04
6 December 2006 – 15 February 2007
2007-02-15
2006-12-06
State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow, Russia)
State Russian Museum (St Petersburg, Russia)
http://www.rusmuseum.ru
2006-12-06
Whistler: Russian Suite
Loan-out
15 June 2008 – 19 October 2008
2008-10-19
15 June 2008 – 19 October 2008
2008-10-19
2008-06-15
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, USA)
http://www.clarkart.edu/
2008-06-15
Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness and the Art of Painting Softly
Loan-out
1 May 2009 – 2 December 2010
2010-12-02
1 May 2009 – 2 December 2010
2010-12-02
2009-05-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-05-01
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Collection based display
26 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
26 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
2010-06-26
Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
2010-06-26
Paths to Abstraction - 1867 to 1917
Loan-out
1 January 2014 – 31 May 2014
2014-05-31
1 January 2014 – 31 May 2014
2014-05-31
2014-01-01
Mitsubishi Ichigokan (Tokyo, Japan)
2014-01-01
Art for Art's Sake
Loan-out
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
27 November 2019 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
2019-11-27
Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
24 May 2024 – 24 September 2024
2024-09-24
24 May 2024 – 22 September 2024
2024-09-22
2024-05-24
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (Rouen, France)
2024-05-24
Whistler and Europe: the butterfly effect
Loan-out
Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel
support: 543 × 762 mm
frame: 840 × 1068 × 119 mm
Bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919
<p>This is one of six <i>Nocturnes </i>that Whistler painted of Cremorne Gardens in London. The gardens were situated at the west end of Chelsea on the river, only a few hundred yards from Whistler's residence in Lindsey Row.  They could be reached by foot or by steamboat, and offered a variety of entertainments, including restaurants, theatres, a 'stereorama', a gypsy grotto, a maze and an indoor bowling alley. In all his depictions of the gardens, Whistler ignored the dancing and music which were major features of the nightlife there and focused on the more mysterious and ephemeral activities, such as the nightly display of fireworks.  Both this work and <i>The Falling Rocket</i> (1875, The Detroit Institute of Arts) show the climax of one of the pyrotechnic displays which were held every evening on the Cremorne fireworks platform, known as the Grotto. A crowd of spectators, their backs turned to us, are watching in awe the spectacular Catherine wheel as it revolves in the night sky, throwing off a shower of sparks. A tiered fountain strung with fairy lights is just visible to the left of the picture, with trees to left and right.

</p><p>Whistler sought in his <i>Nocturnes</i> to convey a sense of the beauty and tranquility of the Thames and its environs by night. It was Frederick Leyland who first used the name 'nocturne' to describe these moonlight scenes, suggesting the concept of evening, or night, but with musical associations.  The expression was quickly adopted by Whistler, who later explained,

</p><p></p><blockquote>
<p>By using the word 'nocturne' I wished 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 line, <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>form</span></a> and colour first (quoted in Dorment &amp; MacDonald, p.122). <br/></p></blockquote>
<p>He never painted his <i>Nocturnes</i> on the spot, but rather from memory in his studio, employing a special <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>medium</span></a> devised for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> swiftly in oils. He thinned his paint with copal, turpentine and linseed oil, creating what he called a 'sauce', which he applied in thin, transparent layers, wiping it away until he was satisfied. In this picture he used thin washes to give the impression of smoke blowing across the velvety darkness.  He then dripped paint across the surface to convey the effect of the fireworks, and brought the figures to life with deliberate, studied brushstrokes.  His intention was to preserve the mood of the Cremorne Gardens, as they appeared to him, by not describing the scene too literally.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Richard Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, <i>James McNeill Whistler</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1994, no.56, pp.133-4, reproduced in colour p.134.<br/>Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer with the assistance of Hamish Miles, <i>The Paintings of James MacNeill Whistler</i>, New Haven and London, 1980, no.170, reproduced in colour plate 153.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>4 December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>This is one of the nocturnes that Whistler painted of Cremorne Gardens, at the west end of Chelsea beside the river Thames.  The gardens were popular as a place of amusement, offering concerts, dancing and, as in this painting, a nightly display of fireworks.  Cremorne was closed in 1877 due to repeated complaints from the neighbourhood about the noise and rowdiness.  Whistler’s nocturnes provide a sense of the tranquillity of the Thames at night, and are far removed from the teeming waterfront of the day.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
architecture Chelsea, Cremorne Gardens England firework display garden structures leisure and pastimes lifestyle and culture musical analogy music and entertainment night park places society times of the day townscape townscapes / man-made features UK countries and regions UK London