Chelsea Houses 1887

James Abbott McNeill Whistler made this small painting, Chelsea Houses, with oil on board. It is one of many images he made of London, where he lived for much of his adult life. Whistler was interested in how art could capture the fleeting sensations of modern urban life. Thinkers like Charles Baudelaire were writing about this in France, and Whistler wanted to do something similar in England. He focused on effects of light and atmosphere in his paintings, but also gave close attention to ordinary buildings in working-class neighborhoods. We can learn a lot about the social fabric of Victorian London by looking closely at paintings like this one. It's a useful document for social historians as well as art historians. Primary sources like census records, newspaper articles, and photographs can provide a detailed understanding of the lives of people who lived in these houses. Art always exists within a specific social and institutional context.