Nocturne in Black and Gold

First shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in London in 1877, it is one of two modern impressionist artworks (the other being Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Firewheel) inspired by the Cremorne Gardens, a celebrated pleasure resort in London. One of his many works from his series of Nocturnes, it is the last of the London Nocturnes and is now widely acknowledged to be the high point of Whistler’s middle period. Whistler’s depiction of the industrial city park in The Falling Rocket includes a fireworks display in the foggy night sky. His detractors deemed the painting too slapdash, incomprehensible, and even insulting.

This priceless artwork is currently located at the Detroit Institute of Art in Michigan.