Exhibition on Screen: James McNeill Whistler

$16 / $14 for members and seniors
Language: English
Run time: 90 minutes

In an era of great change and great beauty emerged the character of James McNeill Whistler. Considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th-century art, he was a contemporary of the Impressionists and 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, entitling many of his paintings “arrangements,” “harmonies” and “nocturnes” to emphasize the importance of tonal harmony in his work. His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler’s Mother, is a revered and often parodied portrait of motherhood. Arguably one of the most famous paintings in history, it offers a way to discover the artist behind the art.

Tate Britain is holding the first major retrospective of Whistler in three decades. The exhibition brings together world-famous masterpieces and rarely seen works. Exhibition on Screen brings these works and the story behind them to cinemas around the world while the exhibition is running, exploring Whistler’s influence on those who followed.

EXHIBITION ON SCREEN presentations are cinematic immersions into the world’s best-loved art, accompanied by insights from leading historians and arts critics.