Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple probably dates from between 1884 and 1885. 1

Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple, Cincinnati Art Museum

Note in Red: The Siesta, Terra Foundation for American Art

The chaise longue in Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple is like that in Red and Pink: La Petite Mephisto [YMSM 255] and Note in Red: The Siesta [YMSM 254], and the butterfly monogram is very like that on the latter. These two paintings are dated 1883/1884.

It had been suggested that Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple was painted in Dieppe in the autumn of 1885. 2 This was based on a statement by the artist Jacques Émile Blanche (1861-1942), that he bought a portrait of Olga Alberta Caracciolo (1871–1930/1931) from Whistler in Dieppe in 1885: 'Scherzo, arrangement in pink, red purple, a few spots of colour which I bought from the painter ... because the pose he used was the same as that in my portrait.' 3 However, it is not certain that this has been correctly interpreted: it does not, for instance, say that it was painted in Dieppe.

The setting and the chaise longue in Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple look more like those in Whistler's London studio, as seen in several studies of sitters in London, including Milly Finch [M.0907].