Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge 1865

James Abbott McNeill Whistler created this painting, Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge, during a time of rapid industrial expansion in London. Whistler, an American expatriate, captured the city’s changing face through his atmospheric nocturnes. Eschewing the literal depiction favored by the establishment, Whistler instead evokes a mood, an emotional state, positioning himself as a modern artist. "My painting of the "Nocturne in Blue and Silver" is an artistic arrangement of colours," Whistler argued, as he sought to legitimize his subjective experience of the world. Here, the bridge, a symbol of modernity, is softened by the hazy light and muted tones. The figure on the pier is dwarfed by the industrial landscape, perhaps suggesting feelings of alienation in the modern world. Whistler’s nocturnes offer a complex meditation on modernity, capturing both its beauty and its unsettling effects on the human psyche.