The Ocean Wave
date: label: Date
content: 1883-1884
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: Clouds drifting close to the water; a beach indicated in the foreground; signed with the butterfly at lower right.
label: Signatures
content: Gray-brown butterfly in lower right corner
label: Paper/Support
content: On hot-pressed, wove paper mounted overall to a manufactured board with paper facings on both sides.
label: Provenance
content: To 1906
label: Provenance
content: Obach & Co., London, to 1906 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1906 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1906 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 20c, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art: Whistler as Decorator (May 11, 1984 to December 5, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Water Colors (January 7, 1924 to April 4, 1930)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Obach & Co. (1884-1911) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: mounting
label: Topic
content: bone black
label: Topic
content: Prussian blue
label: Topic
content: raw sienna
label: Topic
content: raw umber
label: Topic
content: zinc white
label: Topic
content: chrome yellow
label: Topic
content: Mars pigment
label: Topic
content: yellow ocher
label: Topic
content: water
label: Topic
content: ocean
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: Related Online Resources
content: Whistler in Watercolor
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1906.54a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 12.7 x 17.6 cm (5 x 6 15/16 in)