Provenance

Unknown.

Exhibitions

• 1885: Winter Exhibition, Society of British Artists, London, 1885 (cat. no. 566) as 'Harmony in Opal and Violet'.

Grey and Silver [M.1069], Harmony in Opal and Violet [M.1075] and Harmony in Opal and Violet [M.1075] were exhibited together. Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921), writing in the Academy, praised Whistler's two upright pastels of lightly draped models. 1 Most critics appeared to think the pastels were figure studies although the Echo mentioned two pastel 'seaside' sketches.

There is a possibility that Harmony in Opal and Violet was the nude study to which Whistler affixed his note "Horsley soit qui mal y pense" (see Note in Violet and Green [M.1074]).