Private Life of a Masterpiece Season 4 Episode 5

Portrait of the Artist's Mother

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Season 4 Episode 5

The last episode of the series examines the story behind James McNeill Whistler's Arrangement in Grey and Black No1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, a painting which has been seen as both a celebration of aestheticism and a precursor of abstract art. The documentary reveals that, even though the artist's mother was a last-minute replacement for a younger model who failed to turn up for the sitting, the image has gone on to become one of the best-loved and most frequently satirised paintings in American art. Sam West narrates