James McNeill Whistler - Tate Britain Exhibition (21st May – 27 Sept 2026)

This is the first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years and will be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy and study every branch of Whistler’s ground-breaking work, encompassing his highly innovative portraits, exquisite landscapes, as well as his drawings, and prints. His career ranged from his early life in St. Petersburg to his time in Paris and then his controversial and revolutionary work in London, beside the Thames. Much of his work is familiar but the exhibition will also include examples, which have not often or even ever been seen. The exhibition will include exquisite portraits, his technically novel landscapes, his drawings, prints, and designs.

Lecture 1: Whistler’s Early Career in St. Petersburg and Paris.

Lecture 2: Whistler as a Painter of Portraits and Landscapes.

Lecture 3: Whistler as Draftsman and Designer.

Text from Tate Britain website: 21 May 2026 – 27 Sept 202

Experience the captivating world of rule-breaking American artist James McNeill Whistler

A truly global figure, Whistler re-wrote the rules of what it meant to be an artist. He pioneered new and innovative techniques, creating astonishingly beautiful, ethereal visions of modern life that would earn him a place as one of the most influential artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

This retrospective – the first major European exhibition of Whistler’s work in 30 years – brings together the artist’s world-famous paintings alongside rarely, or never seen, works. It includes exquisite portraits, drawings, prints, and designs, from as early as his teens in St. Petersburg to the enigmatic late self-portraits.

The exhibition presents both a boldly experimental artist and cosmopolitan celebrity, disrupting the conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of truth, beauty, and progress.

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Host or Publisher Shahida Osman