About This Artwork

James McNeill Whistler
American, 1834-1903

Violet and Silver - The Deep Sea, 1893

Oil on canvas
50.2 x 73.3 cm (19 3/4 x 28 7/8 in.)
Inscribed in ink on backing, upper right: "Violet & Silver. The Deep Sea."; butterfly monogram
Also on verso: Exhibited in salon of the / Champ de Mars. 1894 / & / bought in my Studio, Paris/ in October of that year by / John A. Lynch, of Chicago./ J. McNeill Whistler.
Gift of Clara Margaret Lynch in memory of John A. Lynch, 1955.743

After years of painting seascapes on a significantly smaller scale, Whistler returned briefly to the large-format canvas to capture the effects of a hot summer day on the coast of Brittany. According to the Chicago collector Arthur Jerome Eddy, the artist painted this seascape while boating off the coast as a crewman steadied their vessel. This could account for the unusually broad handling of paint and thick touches of pigment apparent throughout the composition, particularly in the clouds and gently cresting waves. Even toward the end of his life, Whistler demonstrated his enduring passion for the myriad relationships of color offered by the ever-changing sea.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

London, Tate Gallery, "James McNeill Whistler," November 12, 1994-January 8, 1995; traveled to Paris, Musee d'Orsay, February 6-April 30, 1995, Washington DC, National Gallery of Art, May 29-August 20, 1995.

Publication History

Judith A. Barter et al, The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2011), no. 18.