Provenance

• 1879: probably acquired by Thomas Way (1837-1915), London, at the time of Whistler's bankruptcy, and returned in the 1880s;
• 1903: bought from the artist by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit, in July;
• 1919: bequeathed by C. L. Freer to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler, Copley Society, Boston, 1904 (cat. no. 22).
• 1905: Œuvres de James McNeill Whistler, Palais de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1905 (cat. no. 13) as 'Symphony in Green and Violet'.

It was not shown in the Exposition Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 7th exhibition, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Champs de Mars, Paris, 1897 (cat. no. 1257) as 'Vert et violet', which was Green and Gold: A Shop in Calais [YMSM 474].

Whistler Memorial Exhibition, Boston, 1904, GUL Whistler PH6/21

C. L. Freer lent the painting to the Boston exhibition of 1904, where the 'Projects' were exhibited together, as shown in the photograph reproduced above. By the terms of C. L. Freer's bequest to the Freer Gallery of Art, the painting cannot now be lent to any other venue.