Realism

Whistler's early paintings were Realist in style, that is, they were concerned with portraying modern life with all its liveliness, colour and bustle, as well as its dirt, poverty and hardship. This can be seen, for example, in a painting such as Wapping. These early Realist works were made in reaction to those painters and critics who thought that art should only deal with noble subjects and idealised figures. In this he was greatly influenced by the work of the French Realist painter Gustave Courbet.

Decorative Painting

In the 1860s, influenced by art of the Far East and classical sculpture, Whistler developed a new decorative art. The pale colours, graceful forms and elegant flowing drapery were inspired by classical art. Whistler’s friend, the painter Albert Moore was partly responsible for Whistler’s new interest in classical art. Moore is famous for his paintings of women dressed in flowing classical robes, in poses based on classical sculpture.

The geometric patterned backgrounds, lack of perspective, flat colour and exotic accessories of Whistler’s paintings were drawn from Japanese prints, for example in Variations in Flesh Colour and Green: The Balcony. Moore also drew from Japanese sources in his decorative paintings of the late 1860s, largely due to Whistler’s influence. Whistler came to worry that their paintings were too similar and in the 1870s turned mainly to painting portraits and views of the river Thames.

Japanese Art

In the 1860s European artists were getting excited about Japanese coloured woodblock prints that were beginning to come into the country along with items such as Far Eastern fans, kimonos and porcelain. Whistler was among the first artists to place oriental objects in his paintings, as in for example La Princesse du pays de la porcelain.

In the 1870s Whistler gained a deeper understanding of Japanese methods of design, which were very different to those taught in the art schools of Europe. In response his paintings became more simplified and decorative like Japanese art. In his Nocturnes he turned his back on Western techniques for representing perspective, so that his paintings look radically flat and almost abstract. Japanese art would have had an obvious appeal to an artist like Whistler, who liked to challenge established European views about art.

Music

Whistler began to call his paintings after musical terms, for example Symphonies, Arrangements, Harmonies, Nocturnes, Variations and Notes, to emphasise that he did not want to imitate nature, whether in his landscapes, portraits or figure studies. His paintings were not about subject matter but beauty. They were to be evocative like music. Whistler declared: "As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight, and the subject-matter has nothing to do with harmony of sound or of colour."

Colour

Whistler believed that colour should be "embroidered" on the canvas. By this he meant that the same colours should reappear throughout the picture in order to give a sense of harmony and patterning to the whole. The surface of the picture was often more important than the subject.

Influenced by the Spanish painter Velázquez, Whistler used a limited range of colours, that give his work a quiet elegance and showed a great display of skill.