Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl

James McNeill Whistler, 1861–62. After the Royal Academy turned down the portrait, a Berners Street gallery showed it in 1862 and used the rejection in its catalog. It went on to the 1863 Salon des Refusés in Paris. Look at how many different whites Whistler finds in Joanna Hiffernan’s dress and the curtain behind her.