Whistler's Mother
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''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter
James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...
in 1871. The subject of the painting is Whistler's mother, Anna McNeill Whistler. The painting is , displayed in a frame of Whistler's own design. It is held by the
Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, having been bought by the French state in 1891. It is one of the most famous works by an American artist outside the United States. It has been variously described as an American icon and a Victorian ''
Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...
''.


History

Anna McNeill Whistler posed for the painting while living in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
with her son at 96 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. Several unverifiable stories relate to the painting of the work; one is that Anna Whistler acted as a replacement for another model who could not make the appointment. Whistler originally envisioned painting the model standing up. However, his mother was too uncomfortable to pose standing for an extended period. The work was shown at the 104th Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Art in London (1872), after coming within a hair's breadth of rejection by the academy. This episode worsened the rift between Whistler and the British art world; ''Arrangement'' was the last painting he submitted for the academy's approval (although his etching of Old Putney Bridge was exhibited there in 1879). Vol. VIII of ''The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their work from its foundation in 1769 to 1904'' (by Algernon Graves, F.S.A., London 1906) lists the 1872 exhibit as no. 941, "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's mother", and gives Whistler's address as The White House, Chelsea Embankment. The sensibilities of a
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
viewing audience would not accept what was a portrait exhibited as an "arrangement", hence the addition of the explanatory title ''Portrait of the Painter's mother''. From this, the work acquired its enduring nickname of simply ''Whistler's Mother''. After
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...
viewed the painting, he agreed to sit for a similar composition, this one titled '' Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2''. Thus the previous painting became, by default, ''Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1''. Whistler eventually pawned the painting, acquired in 1891 by Paris's Musée du Luxembourg. Whistler's works, including this one, had attracted several imitators. Numerous similarly posed and restricted-colour palette paintings soon appeared, particularly by American expatriate painters. For Whistler, having one of his paintings displayed in a major museum helped attract wealthy patrons. In December 1884, Whistler wrote: As a proponent of " art for art's sake", Whistler professed to be perplexed and annoyed by the insistence of others upon viewing his work as a "portrait". In his 1890 book ''The Gentle Art of Making Enemies'', he wrote: Both ''Whistler's Mother'' and ''Thomas Carlyle'' were engraved by the English engraver Richard Josey. The image has been used since the Victorian era as an icon for motherhood, affection for parents, and "family values" in general, especially in the United States. For example, in 1934, the U.S. Post Office Department issued a stamp engraved with the portrait detail from ''Whistler's Mother'', bearing the slogan "In memory and in honor of the mothers of America." In the Borough of Ashland, Pennsylvania, an eight-foot-high statue based on the painting was erected as a tribute to mothers by the Ashland Boys' Association in 1938, during the Great Depression. In summing up the painting's influence, art historian Martha Tedeschi has stated:


Exhibitions in America

''Whistler's Mother'' has been exhibited several times in the United States, notably at the Century of Progress world's fair in Chicago in 1933–34. It was shown at the Atlanta Art Association in the fall of 1962, the National Gallery of Art in 1994, and the
Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...
in 2004. It was exhibited at the
Boston Museum of Fine Arts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
in 1983 in an exhibition called ''A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting 1760- 1910.'' From May 22 to September 6, 2010, it was shown at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. The painting was exhibited at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, from March 27 to June 22, 2015, at the
Colby College Museum of Art The Colby College Museum of Art is an art museum on the campus of Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1959 and now comprising five wings, nearly 8,000 works and more than 38,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Colby College Museu ...
in Maine, and then the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 2016 . It was shown at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
from March 4 to May 21, 2017. From 10 June to 29 October 2023, it was on display at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
.


In popular culture

The painting has been featured or mentioned in numerous works of fiction and within pop culture. These include films such as '' Sing and Like It'' (1934), '' The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'' (1947), the
Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...
shorts '' Early to Bed'' (1941) & '' Donald's Diary'' (1954), ''
The Fortune Cookie ''The Fortune Cookie'' (alternative United Kingdom, British title: ''Meet Whiplash Willie'') is a 1966 American black comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It is the first film in which Jack Lemmon collaborated with Wal ...
'' (1966), ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...
'' (1975), ''
Babette's Feast ''Babette's Feast'' () is a 1987 Danish drama film directed by Gabriel Axel. The screenplay, written by Axel, was based on the 1958 story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). It was produced by Just Betzer, Bo Christensen and Benni Korzen, with f ...
'' (1986), '' The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'' (1991), ''
Bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...
'' (1997), '' The Tigger Movie'' (2000), '' Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' (2003), '' I Am Legend'' (2007), and '' Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2'' (2013). It has been mentioned in television episodes of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' (" Rosebud", " The Trouble with Trillions", and " The Burns and the Bees"). The painting is mentioned in
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
's novel ''
Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...
.'' The painting is central to the plot of the 1997 comedy film ''
Bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...
'', in which Mr. Bean accidentally defaces it during its repatriation to the United States and secretly replaces it with a poster. Actor Hurd Hatfield toured internationally several times with the play ''Son of Whistler's Mother'' by playwright Maggie Williams. Between 1959 and 2021, the
Douglas A-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and attack aircraft, ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during ...
serial number 41-39401 was either flown or displayed with the name of ''Whistler's Mother''. It featured a reproduction of the painting on the nose.


In music

Whistler, and particularly this painting, had a profound effect on
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
, a contemporary French composer. In 1894, Debussy wrote to violinist Eugène Ysaÿe describing his '' Nocturnes'' as "an experiment in the different combinations that can be obtained from one color – what a study in grey would be in painting." Whether Debussy used the term ''color'' to refer to orchestration or harmony, critics have observed "shades" of a particular sound quality in his music.Weintraub, Stanley. 2001. ''Whistler: A Biography'' (New York: Da Capo Press). , p. 351 in the popular standard You're the Top by
Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
the painting is listed as "You're Whistler's mama". The subject of the painting is referenced as "Mama Whistler" in the lyrics of the
Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...
song Done Too Soon.


See also

* Zephaniah Kingsley, uncle


References


Further reading

* Sutherland, Daniel E. and Toutziari, Georgia (2018). ''Whistler's Mother: Portrait of an Extraordinary Life''. Yale University Press. . * Walden, Sarah (2003). ''Whistler and His Mother: An Unexpected Relationship: Secrets of an American Masterpiece''. London: Gibson Square; Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. .


External links

*
Whistler's Mother
' at the Musée d'Orsay {{DEFAULTSORT:Whistler's Mother 1871 paintings Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay Paintings by James McNeill Whistler Portraits of women