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For James McNeill Whistler, watercolor was the medium through which he reinvented himself in the 1880’s and painted his way into posterity. This exhibition, Whistler in Watercolor includes more than 50 examples - figures, landscapes, nocturnes, and interiors - and represents one of the world’s largest collection of watercolors by the artist.
Whistler’s watercolors were influential for their decisive break from the Victorian strain of moralizing realism, and for their understated harmonies of composition and color. Using a special technique by which paint, in a very liquid state that he called a sauce, and fast sweeps of the brush, Whistler’s paintings convey details through suggestion rather than explicit statement and reveal his mastery of color mixtures and wet effects. His watercolor works, sometimes painted on tinted paper, helped prepare the flowering of impressionist and abstract art to come.
General Information
- Meet your Smithsonian Associates Rep by the Information Desk , no later than listed start time.
- While there is metered street parking and several parking lots and garages near the museum, space is limited, your best bet is using METRO.
