EOS: James McNeill Whistler (PG)

Filmed in close collaboration with Tate Britain, the latest Exhibition on Screen production accompanies the first major Whistler retrospective there in three decades.

Bringing together celebrated masterpieces and rarely seen works, the exhibition offers a chance to reconsider an artist whose influence continues to shape modern painting.

James McNeill Whistler was one of the great artistic provocateurs of the 19th century, challenging Victorian conventions with his bold ideas about beauty, colour and artistic freedom. A contemporary of the Impressionists and admired by artists including Manet and Van Gogh, he sought to treat painting like music, giving works titles such as ‘arrangements’, ‘harmonies’ and ‘nocturnes’.

His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), better known as Whistler’s Mother, has become one of the world’s most recognisable images. But there is much more to Whistler than a single celebrated portrait, and this film explores the artist behind the icon.

Director David Bickerstaff takes us beyond the gallery walls, combining the artworks with expert insight and the story of Whistler’s unconventional life. Visually rich and packed with detail, it offers an engaging introduction to an artist who insisted that art should follow its own rules.