Thames Map: Works Thames Map: Walks Polluted Landscapes Tate Boat

Lambeth

At first glance this appears to be a night-time scene, but the pedestrians on the Embankment in the foreground, as well as the river traffic and the smoking chimneys on the opposite bank, suggest it is a dark winter day, with coal smoke and fog hanging in the air.

Whistler took great pains with the subtle tonal changes, creating an elegiac effect which seems to echo his emotional state during his wife's terminal illness. Rivers are universal symbols of life; here, the fog adds a sense of foreboding, resignation, and peace. This was the last view Whistler made of the Thames.

James McNeill Whistler The Thames 1896
Lithotint on paper
Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago. Clarence Buckingham Collection

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