Whistler and Peacock Blue

^Whistler's Peacock Room, Neil Greentree / Freer Gallery of Art

Exclusively for Saturated Space, Amanda Kolson Hurley tells the engrossing, gossipy, tangled story of the genesis of the Peacock Room, its intimate relationship with Whistler the artist, and his reputation, the end it brought to a key friendship, all of which was deeply stained with the enigmatic and somewhat equivocal shade that suffused the room, and came to be known as Peacock Blue.

"The story behind James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room is one of high artistic ambition, a quarrel over money, and a broken friendship. Less well known is the origin of its color scheme, especially the color we have come to know as "peacock blue." Why did Whistler paint the room a moody teal and not, as one would expect, the deep blue of a peacock's breast? This article considers Whistler's color choices and argues that "peacock blue" is a shade that owes more to Whistler than to nature."

Whistler and Peacock Blue

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