James McNeill Whistler’s portrait of his mom, now his best-known portray, will likely be a spotlight of Tate Britain’s exhibition on the artist. In December 1889 Vincent van Gogh wrote to his sister Wil that this hanging image of outdated age reminded him of their very own mom: “After I consider Mom she too seems like that to me.”
Tate’s present, entitled James McNeill Whistler, opens on 21 Could and runs to 27 September. It then goes on to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (16 October-10 January 2027), with the added subtitle Dandy and Disrupter.
In 1871, after a mannequin failed to show up, the American-born artist painted his 67-year-old mom Anna, who was dwelling with him in Chelsea in London. Whistler entitled the ensuing image Association in Gray and Black no. 1, though it’s now normally known as merely Portrait of the Painter’s Mom.
The portray belongs to the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which is lending it to the London and Amsterdam exhibitions. It’s nonetheless in its unique body, designed by Whistler himself, so those that solely know the portrait from reproductions could have the possibility to see it because the artist supposed.
Whistler’s Association in Gray and Black no. 1, Portrait of the Painter’s Mom in its 1891 body designed by the artist
The Artwork Newspaper ({photograph})
Portrait of the Painter’s Mom has now come to symbolize a picture of motherhood and the dignity of age. Of their 2018 biography of Anna Whistler, authors Daniel Sutherland and Georgia Toutziari describe it as “the primary trendy portrait, to be each handled as an icon and abused by the iconoclasts”.
It’s unsure whether or not Van Gogh knew the unique portray, though it had been briefly displayed in London whereas he labored there as a trainee artwork vendor at a department of the Goupil gallery. Whistler’s present had opened at London’s Flemish Gallery on 7 June 1874, and Van Gogh was on the town till 25 June, when he went dwelling to the Netherlands. It’s probably that he noticed the exhibition, however questionable whether or not he would have remembered the image 15 years later.
Nonetheless, Portrait of the Painter’s Mom had been revealed as a print on 5 events by 1889, and he probably would have seen at the least one in every of them. As the image is basically in tones of gray, a printed black-and-white picture would have given an affordable thought of the stark composition.
Lacking story
Curiously, the Tate and Van Gogh Museum exhibition catalogues don’t point out the fascinating hyperlinks between Whistler and the Goupil gallery (by then renamed Boussod & Valadon) the place Vincent’s brother Theo labored in Paris.
In November 1887, Boussod & Valadon’s London department launched a set of six earlier Whistler lithographs, together with Nocturne: The River at Battersea. Theo, who was the supervisor of their Paris gallery, most likely obtained a set. Vincent, who had lengthy been an admirer of Whistler, was then sharing an condo in Paris with Theo, so it’s probably that he noticed the 1887 lithographs.
Whistler’s print Nocturne: The River at Battersea (1878, second state 1887), launched by Boussod & Valadon
Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, New York
There can be additional hyperlinks between Whistler and Boussod & Valadon. In August 1891, their Paris gallery had two work on show: most likely Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Southampton Water (1872) and Nocturne in Blue and Gold: St Mark’s Venice (1880). Each footage will likely be in Tate’s exhibition, on mortgage from the Artwork Institute Chicago and the Nationwide Museum Cardiff, respectively.
Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Southampton Water (1880)
Artwork Institute of Chicago (Stickney Fund)
Portrait of the Painter’s Mom was then proven in Boussod & Valadon’s Paris gallery in November 1891. Just a few weeks later the portray was acquired by the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, and ultimately handed to the Musée d’Orsay.
Vincent died in July 1890 and Theo in January 1891. Portrait of the Painter’s Mom due to this fact solely went on present after Theo’s loss of life, however it’s doable that he could have helped lay the foundations for the show.
The Van Gogh mom
Van Gogh’s Portrait of the Artist’s Mom (October 1888)
Norton Simon Museum, Los Angeles © Norton Simon Artwork Basis
In October 1888, Van Gogh painted a portrait of his personal mom who was additionally named Anna. Though Vincent had a fraught relationship together with his father, he bought alongside together with his mom, though they weren’t shut. He was dwelling in Arles when he painted the one portrait of his mom, having final seen her three years earlier, and labored from {a photograph}.
Van Gogh gave Anna a energetic expression, and made her seem youthful than her 69 years (within the {photograph} he used, she seems significantly older). Van Gogh’s Anna was truly two years older than Whistler’s Anna, though one would hardly suppose so from the 2 painted portraits.
What is especially hanging within the Van Gogh portray is the highly effective colouring, significantly the inexperienced background. Certainly, the Whistler and Van Gogh portraits might hardly be extra completely different, in each color palette and composition.
There may be one additional hyperlink between the 2 artists: Whistler’s quite a few painted riverside “nocturnes” could have performed a task in inspiring Van Gogh to embark on Starry Night time over the Rhône (September 1888). As soon as once more, the 2 avant-garde artists tackled related motifs in such very other ways.
Van Gogh’s Starry Night time over the Rhône (September 1888)
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Martin Bailey is a number one Van Gogh specialist and particular correspondent for The Artwork Newspaper. He has curated exhibitions on the Barbican Artwork Gallery, Compton Verney/Nationwide Gallery of Scotland and Tate Britain.
Martin Bailey’s current Van Gogh books
Martin has written a variety of bestselling books on Van Gogh’s years in France: The Sunflowers Are Mine: The Story of Van Gogh’s Masterpiece (Frances Lincoln 2013, UK and US), Studio of the South: Van Gogh in Provence (Frances Lincoln 2016, UK and US), Starry Night time: Van Gogh on the Asylum (White Lion Publishing 2018, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale: Auvers and the Artist’s Rise to Fame (Frances Lincoln 2021, UK and US). The Sunflowers are Mine (2024, UK and US) and Van Gogh’s Finale (2024, UK and US) are additionally now obtainable in a extra compact paperback format.
His different current books embody Dwelling with Vincent van Gogh: The Houses & Landscapes that formed the Artist (White Lion Publishing 2019, UK and US), which gives an summary of the artist’s life. The Illustrated Provence Letters of Van Gogh has been reissued (Batsford 2021, UK and US). My Buddy Van Gogh/Emile Bernard gives the primary English translation of Bernard’s writings on Van Gogh (David Zwirner Books 2023, UKand US).
To contact Martin Bailey, please e-mail vangogh@theartnewspaper.com
Please observe that he doesn’t undertake authentications.
Discover all of Martin’s adventures with Van Gogh right here
