Green and Blue: The Dancer

Green and Blue: The Dancer

James McNeill Whistler, c. 1893

Download1686 × 2502 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
Medium: Watercolor and opaque watercolor over traces of black chalk on brown wove paper laid down on card
Size: 27.5 × 18.3 cm (10 7/8 × 7 1/4 in.)
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Inspired by Greek sculpture and Japanese prints, James McNeill Whistler became entranced with portraying the female form clad in diaphanous drapery in the 1890s. He developed this theme in all the media in which he worked, including transfer lithography, oil, pastel, and watercolor. The artist usually provided garments for his models to wear, often classical gossamer gowns with high waists and crossed bodices paired with brightly colored kerchiefs.

His models needed a certain degree of strength and agility, as he sometimes asked them to dance about his studio until he found a suitable pose. In Green and Blue: The Dancer, Whistler employed thin watercolor washes to distill the graceful movements of his lissome young model. The brown paper on which he painted lends opacity to the washes, thereby adding subtle weight to the thin veils of fabric draping the figure.

Text: Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0.

More by James McNeill Whistler

The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine)

The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine)

James McNeill Whistler, 1863-1865

Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room

Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room

James McNeill Whistler, 1860-1861

The Staircase: Note in Red

The Staircase: Note in Red

James McNeill Whistler, 1880

Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen

Caprice in Purple and Gold: The Golden Screen

James McNeill Whistler, 1864

Wapping

James McNeill Whistler, 1860-1864

Alice Butt

James McNeill Whistler, c. 1895

Red and Black: The Fan

Red and Black: The Fan

James McNeill Whistler, 1891–1896

Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony

Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony

James McNeill Whistler, 1864-1870; additions 1870-1879

Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl

Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl

James McNeill Whistler, 1861-1863, 1872

Milly Finch

James McNeill Whistler, 1883-1884

Symphony in White, No. 3

Symphony in White, No. 3

James McNeill Whistler, 1865–1867

Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks

Purple and Rose: The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks

James McNeill Whistler, 1864

Visually similar

Annabel Lee

James McNeill Whistler, 1885-1887

A Note in Green

A Note in Green

James McNeill Whistler, 1883-1884

Nude Standing with Legs Crossed

Nude Standing with Legs Crossed

James McNeill Whistler, c. 1878

Rose et vert: Une etude

Rose et vert: Une etude

James McNeill Whistler, 1896–1900

The Purple Cap

James McNeill Whistler, 1870s; reworked 1885

A Study of Miranda for "The Tempest"

A Study of Miranda for "The Tempest"

George Romney, c. 1786

Ariel

James McNeill Whistler, 1880s

Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour

Violet and Rose: La Belle de Jour

James McNeill Whistler, c. 1885

Study of a standing woman

Study of a standing woman

Théodore Géricault

Allegory of Music, sketch for the project of the stage curtain of the Słowacki Theatre in Kraków

Allegory of Music, sketch for the project of the stage curtain of the Słowacki Theatre in Kraków

Henryk Siemiradzki, c. 1892

Standing Woman in Moroccan Costume

Standing Woman in Moroccan Costume

Eugène Delacroix, ca. 1834

Dancer (Die Tänzerin)

Dancer (Die Tänzerin)

Egon Schiele, 1913