Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony
date: label: Date
content: 1864-1870; additions 1870-1879
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: Four women on a balcony overlooking the river.
label: Description
content: Signature at lower left.
label: Signatures
content: Signature - the Butterfly, at lower left.
label: Label
content: A pivotal work in Whistler's oeuvre, this painting stands between his fanciful costume works such as Caprice in Purple and Gold and the more fully realized synthesis of Japanese art evident in the Nocturnes of the 1870s. English models dressed in kimonos pose on a balcony overlooking the river Thames and the industrial neighbourhood of Battersea on the opposite shore. The factory smokestacks are veiled in atmospheric mist, and the adjacent slag heap (a monument of industrial waste) evokes images of Mount Fuji by Japanese artists Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai. Butterflies, a symbol of metamorphosis, link the foreground fantasy to the real world beyond the balcony. Beginning with this painting, Whistler signed his work with a butterfly instead of his name, thereby linking himself and Victorian London to imaginative visions of Japan.
label: Provenance
content: G.G. Cavafy, purchased from the artist, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) [1]
label: Provenance
content: To 1892
label: Provenance
content: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1892 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1892 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1892 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Curatorial Remarks 3 and 4, S. Hobbs, 1977, in the object record.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] 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: Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room (July 13, 2024 to January 21, 2027)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)
label: Exhibition History
content: An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)
label: Exhibition History
content: Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact (February 23, 2008 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty (August 13, 2005 to September 17, 2006)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) (April 3, 2001 to January 24, 2008)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Art - James McNeill Whistler (May 9, 1993 to June 30, 1997)
label: Exhibition History
content: Arrangement in Yellow and Gold: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (March 14, 1986 to April 1, 1987)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (January 17, 1985 to (end date unknown))
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (September 16, 1981 to March 26, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)
label: Exhibition History
content: Portraits and Figure Painting by James McNeill Whistler (October 2, 1972 to May 2, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (October 15, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1955 (December 16, 1955 to February 25, 1956)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings (February 12, 1944 to May 10, 1945)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings, J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to February 12, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, University of Michigan Club, Detroit, 1914 (1914)
label: Exhibition History
content: A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)
label: Exhibition History
content: Ausstellung Amerikanischer Kunst (March 17 to April 17, 1910)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
label: Exhibition History
content: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler (February 23 to March 22, 1904)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Society of American Artists, 1903 (1903)
label: Exhibition History
content: Autumn Exhibition (October 28 to November 18, 1902)
label: Exhibition History
content: Pan-American Exposition, Exhibition of Fine Arts (May 1 to November 2, 1901)
label: Exhibition History
content: Second Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute (November 4, 1897 to January 1, 1898)
label: Exhibition History
content: Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces (March through April, 1892)
label: Exhibition History
content: Retrospective Exhibition (December 5 to 25, 1892)
label: Exhibition History
content: Exposition Universelle (May 6 to October 31, 1889)
label: Exhibition History
content: Grosvenor Gallery Summer Exhibition (Summer 1878)
label: Exhibition History
content: The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts: The One Hundred and Second (1870)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: G. G. Cavafy
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (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: shamisen
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: model
label: Topic
content: balcony
label: Topic
content: kimono
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 11: Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room
label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
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: F1892.23a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on wood panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 61.4 × 48.5 cm (24 3/16 × 19 1/8 in)