James McNeill Whistler

In an era of great change and great beauty emerged James McNeill Whistler, considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th century art. A contemporary of the Impressionists, much admired by Van Gogh and Manet, Whistler was boldly experimental and famously witty, disrupting the strict conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of a new cult of beauty. He created "art for art's sake" and found a parallel between painting and music, entitling many paintings "arrangements", "harmonies" and "nocturnes". His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother, is arguably one of the most famous paintings in history. Tate Britain is now holding the first major retrospective of Whistler in three decades.