Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Snow in Chelsea

Whistler was an American artist, wit and society figure, who lived for most of his life in London and Paris. He trained as an artist in Paris in the studio of Charles Gleyre but his early work was inspired by the paintings of the Realist painter Gustave Courbet and by the work of older masters such as Velázquez, Rembrandt, and Thomas Gainsborough. Later he absorbed the influences of Japanese and classical art to create works that were decorative and virtually subjectless. He was one of the central figures in the Aesthetic Movement. He was a man who liked to live his life in the public eye and was very concerned about his personal appearance and the critical reception of his paintings.