Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
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Works with images
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Collection
<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 Blue and Silver  Cremorne Lights
Bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919
architecture
Battersea - non-specific
boat, raft
Chelsea, Cremorne Gardens
chimney
emotions, concepts and ideas
England
evening
industrial
lifestyle and culture
musical analogy
natural phenomena
places
reflection
river
River Thames
sensuality
society
streetlight
times of the day
townscape, distant
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
universal concepts
water: inland
<p>Whistler’s viewpoint is from Battersea Bridge, looking up river. The industrial chimneys of Battersea on the left are balanced by the lights of Cremorne pleasure gardens on the other side of the Thames. Whistler frames his composition so the river spreads out as a panoramic expanse of water, leading to the vanishing point of the horizon. The paint was applied quickly, wet on wet, to produce the smooth sheen of its surface. Whistler has decorated the frame himself, using a motif of gold fish scales.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2010</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
15 May 2004 – 16 May 2005
2005-05-16
15 May 2004 – 5 September 2004
2004-09-05
2004-05-15
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
16 October 2004 – 16 January 2005
2005-01-16
2004-10-16
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
10 February 2005 – 16 May 2005
2005-05-16
2005-02-10
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-05-15
Turner Whistler Monet
Exhibition
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
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
31 January 2012 – 12 August 2012
2012-08-12
2012-01-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-01-31
Migrations
Exhibition
5 October 2012 – 20 January 2013
2013-01-20
5 October 2012 – 20 January 2013
2013-01-20
2012-10-05
Fundación Juan March (Madrid, Spain)
http://www.march.es
2012-10-05
"No More Fog in the Channel" Holbein to Hockney
Loan-out
27 September 2014 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
27 September 2014 – 1 February 2015
2015-02-01
2014-09-27
Museum Folkwang (Essen, Germany)
20 February 2015 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
2015-02-20
Kunsthaus Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland)
http://www.kunsthaus.ch/
2014-09-27
Manet, Monet, van Gogh - the Discovery of Japan
Loan-out
11 May 2016 – 25 September 2016
2016-09-25
11 May 2016 – 25 September 2016
2016-09-25
2016-05-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-05-11
Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the modern age
Exhibition
22 October 2016 – 25 June 2017
2017-06-25
22 October 2016 – 29 January 2017
2017-01-29
2016-10-22
Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada)
http://www.ago.net
13 March 2017 – 25 June 2017
2017-06-25
2017-03-13
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2016-10-22
Radiant Visions: the Mystical Landscape: from Claude Monet to Emily Carr
Loan-out
2 November 2017 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2 November 2017 – 7 May 2018
2018-05-07
2017-11-02
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
21 June 2018 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2018-06-21
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France)
2017-11-02
Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile, 1870-1904
Exhibition
2 November 2017 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
20 June 2018 – 14 October 2018
2018-10-14
2018-06-20
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris (Paris, France)
2017-11-02
Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile, 1870 - 1904
Loan-out
14 September 2020 – 18 January 2021
2021-01-18
14 September 2020 – 18 January 2021
2021-01-18
2020-09-14
Alte Nationalgalerie (Berlin, Germany)
2020-09-14
Belgian Symbolism
Loan-out
8 May 2023 – 5 May 2025
2025-05-05
31 October 2022
2022-10-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-05-08
Gallery 6
Collection based display
Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Cremorne Lights
support: 502 × 743 mm
frame: 810 × 1062 × 105 mm
Bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919
<p>Whistler's aim in this picture, as in all his <i>Nocturnes</i>, is to convey a sense of the beauty and tranquility of the Thames by night. The epithet 'nocturne' was first suggested by Frederick Leyland, since it conveys the sense of a night scene, but also has 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 and MacDonald, p.122). <br/></p></blockquote>
<p>The <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of this work, with empty foreground and high horizon, relates closely to <i>Nocturne in Blue and Silver - Chelsea </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/whistler-nocturne-blue-and-silver-chelsea-t01571" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01571</span></a>) of the previous year. The view is from Battersea Bridge, looking upriver towards Battersea on the left and the lights of the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens on the right.  Whistler preferred the calm of the river at night to the noise and bustle of the Thames by day. With would set off in a rowing boat at twilight and sometimes remain on the river all night, sketching and memorising the scene. He never painted his <i>Nocturnes</i> on the spot, but rather from memory in his studio, employing a special material 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. 

</p><p>This particular scene is painted over a composition of four or more robed figures. Whistler presumably rubbed down the figure composition before adding a thin layer of pinkish grey paint, with which he worked out the main features of the river scene. The expanse of blue sky and water, creating a phosphorescent surface right across the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>, enhances the mood of peace and tranquility. The orange lights of the pleasure gardens twinkle in the distance, adding to the dreamlike atmosphere. The reeds and raft in the foreground are barely indicated, with deft, calligraphic strokes of paint. The influence of Japanese art is evident here, and also in the restricted palette, the economy of line and Whistler's characteristic butterfly signature on the right. 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Richard Dorment and Margaret F. MacDonald, <i>James McNeill Whistler</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1994, p.124, no.47, reproduced in colour p.124.<br/>Andrew Wilton and Robert Upstone, <i>The Age of Rossetti, Burne-Jones &amp; Watts: Symbolism in Britain 1860-1910</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1997, pp.207-8, no.80, reproduced in colour p.208.<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. 115, reproduced in colour plate 110.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Whistler’s viewpoint is from Battersea Bridge, looking up river.  The industrial chimneys of Battersea on the left are balanced by the lights of Cremorne pleasure gardens on the other side of the Thames.  Whistler frames his composition so the river spreads out as a panoramic expanse of water, leading to the vanishing point of the horizon.  The paint was applied quickly, wet on wet, to produce the smooth sheen of its surface.  Whistler has decorated the frame himself, using a motif of gold fish scales.
<br/></p>

Display caption
2010-02-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
architecture Battersea - non-specific boat, raft Chelsea, Cremorne Gardens chimney emotions, concepts and ideas England evening industrial lifestyle and culture musical analogy natural phenomena places reflection river River Thames sensuality society streetlight times of the day townscape, distant townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features universal concepts water: inland