The Famous Painting that Conceals a Cherished Relationship

From mother to muse

Arrangement in Grey and Black №1 or Portrait of the Artist’s Mother (1871) by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Oil on canvas. 144.3 × 162.4 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France. Image source Wikimedia Commons

The painting show a woman sitting with her hands folded on her lap, clutching a lace handkerchief. A white muslin bonnet cascades over her shoulders, whilst her face bears an expression of what — Stoicism? Impassivity? Mourning?

Judging from the drawn curtain and the full-bodied palette of greys and blacks, it appears to be nighttime.

James Whistler’s famous painting of his mother seems to conceal as much as it divulges. Her eyes are wide and her brow is raised, as if she is concentrating very hard.

Detail of ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black №1’ (1871) by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Oil on canvas. 144.3 × 162.4 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France. Image source Wikimedia Commons

What word or phrase will get us even close to the meaning of her pursed lips and fixed stare?

The artist was later to admit “Yes, one does like to make one’s mummy just as nice as possible”, words that veil a more complicated and somewhat contradictory set of ambitions.

What Whistler was after was something more rarefied, something more transcendental — and loving.

Striking Arrangements