Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge
- Artist: James McNeill Whistler
- Date: c.1872–5
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 683 x 512 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
"This is “Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge” by James McNeill Whistler, painted around 1872‑75. Oil on canvas, the work captures a quiet Thames at night. Whistler set off in a punt at twilight, often staying until dawn, sketching by memory and later translating those impressions into thick, transparent layers of paint.
In the foreground we see Battersea Bridge stretched across the water, its form exaggerated in height. Beyond it stands Chelsea Church; far in the distance the newly‑built Albert Bridge glows with lights, all set against a blue‑tinged sky. Whistler explained: “I did not intend to paint a portrait of the bridge, but only a painting of a moonlight scene … my whole scheme was only to bring about a certain harmony of colour.”
It was one of his most controversial pieces and even served as evidence in the 1878 Whistler‑Ruskin trial. The painting’s title later became “Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge,” but its essence remains that calm, musical rhythm of night on the Thames.
See it in person
Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
