Page 17 - whistler

Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aid Whistler

Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Valparaiso

1866 (updated 1874)
Oil on canvas
76.4 x 50.7 cm
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington D.C.
(not currently on display)

KEY TOPICS:

• This was painted in Valparaiso, Chile when Whistler traveled there during the Chilean war

with Spain. (Freer and Sackler Galleries)
• In person, the painting is very dark. It is believed that Whistler originally painted it during

the day, but then changed it to a night scene when he reworked the canvas in 1874. (Freer

and Sackler Galleries)

• This was the first of a series of nocturnes (or pictures of night scenes) that he painted from

around the world. (Merrill)

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