Five things to know about Whistler’s Mother

For the first time, one of America’s most famous artworks will make its way to Australia. By Rose Johnstone

There is a scene in 1997 film Bean where Rowan Atkinson’s bumbling anti-hero finds himself in a position where he must impersonate an art expert and give a speech on ‘Whistler’s Mother’. To bated breath, Bean finally delivers his hypothesis. “It’s quite… big. Which is excellent.” Ludicrous as the scene is, perhaps it’s not so far from the way we receive the work today. The painting, which was created by James Mcneill Whistler in 1871, is instantly recognisable, and yet, like with the ‘Mona Lisa’ or Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’, it’s difficult to identify why the work has seeped into public consciousness. When the Musée D’orsay in Paris offered to lend the National Gallery of Victoria the painting as part of a cultural exchange, curator Dr Isobel Crombie saw it as the opportunity to shed some light on the mystery. Here are five key points....

01 The painting is not called ‘Whistler’s Mother’ Dr Isobel Crombie “Whistler called it ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black No 1’ when he first released it to the public. It’s almost abstract in some ways when you look at the detail of the dress – he uses this kind of flurry of paint that takes out any detail in it. People at the time were very confused by it because it was so severe in its appearance. But after a while even Whistler changed his mind about the title and called it ‘Portrait of the Artist’s Mother’.”

02 It took a US president to change public opinion on it “Roosevelt went and stood in front of the painting at the Museum of Modern Art with his mum. He went home and drew a little drawing that he gave to the postal office up as a stamp for Mother’s Day.”

03 Its mystery continues to capture public imagination “Whistler had a very complex relationship with his mother. The painting is a combination of maternal authority, and also love. There’s a great deal of tenderness in the way he paints her hands clutching onto that white handkerchief and paints her old skin on her face. It is invested with a lot of feeling, and we really explore that in the show.”

04 Whistler and his mum could not have been more different “I was interested in who Whistler’s mother was – was she this little mouse that she looks like in this painting? No, she was quite a literate, well travelled woman. And a fervently religious woman. She was always nagging him to go to church and to straighten himself up in regards to money and women.”

05 The painting had a big impact on Australian art “The Australian Impressionists adopted their way of working through looking at Whistler’s art. There’s a famous painting in our collection called ‘The Young Mother’ [1891] by John Longstaff. There’s no doubt that he saw Whistler’s painting because if you compare the two, they’re really similar.”

Whistler’s Mother NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne 3006. 03 8620 222. www.ngv.vic.gov.au. Daily 10am-5pm. $10-$12. Mar 25-Jul 19.

“Whistler had a complex relationship with his mother”