Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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The Beach at Marseille

The Beach at Marseille may date from January 1901 or later. 1

The Beach at Marseille, Terra Foundation for American Art
The Beach at Marseille, Terra Foundation for American Art

If this painting is by Whistler, which is doubtful, it could have been painted when Whistler was convalescing from illness in Marseilles in January 1901. He was very ill for several weeks and the unevenness of style seen in this painting could conceivably be due to this. He went on to Corsica when sufficiently recovered but it was some time before he was able to paint oils to his satisfaction.

The extant Corsican oils are much more fluid and free in brushwork than The Beach at Marseille [YMSM 543] (see A Distant Dome [YMSM 545] and Ajaccio, Corsica [YMSM 546]).

Notes:

1: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 543).

Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret