Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl

James McNeill Whistler 1834–1903

Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (1860s) by James McNeill Whistler. Its palette is led by pale sand (#c5b79a, 39%) and golden umber (#a39272, 25%). Overall the canvas is light, moderately saturated and warm.

Color note

Whistler titled paintings like music, symphonies, nocturnes and arrangements, to put color harmony ahead of subject. Ruskin accused him of flinging a pot of paint in the public's face; Whistler sued him in 1878 and won a farthing in damages.

Palette

#c5b79a MG 180 pale sand 38.5% of canvas
#a39272 MG 182 golden umber 24.9% of canvas
#d9ccb1 MG 171 bone 21.8% of canvas
#6e624e MG 175 stone 7.9% of canvas
#554e46 MG 176 taupe 6.9% of canvas

Color families

Brown 83%, White 10%, Gray 3%, Yellow 3%, Orange 0%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.72
Contrast: 0.43
Vividness: 0.043
Warmth: +1.00
Complexity: 112 cells
Hue range: 0.18
Focus: 0.00

Composition

52% of the visual weight is in the left half, 60% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.43 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 41% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 28% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1860s
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 213.0 × 107.9 cm
Genre: portrait
Made in: France
Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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More by James McNeill Whistler

Nocturne: Blue and Silver – Chelsea, 1871
Whistler's Mother, 1871
Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket, 1875