WASHINGTON DC, United States — The Peacock Room, created by James McNeill Whistler in 1876-77, stands as a masterpiece of interior decoration at the National Museum of Asian Art. Originally designed as a London dining room for shipping magnate Frederick Leyland, the room showcases Whistler's distinctive blue and gold palette. The space displays Chinese porcelain against elaborate peacock motifs and gilt leather walls.
Photograph by David Coleman. The Peacock Room, formally titled "Harmony in Blue and Gold," represents James McNeill Whistler's complete transformation of a Victorian dining room. Created in 1876-77, the room features elaborate peacock motifs painted in blue and gold, with intricate patterns covering the walls, ceiling, and shutters. Originally designed to display Frederick Leyland's collection of Chinese porcelain, the room exemplifies the Anglo-Japanese aesthetic movement of the late nineteenth century. Whistler's design includes shelving for porcelain vessels, gilded leather walls, and a dramatic painting of fighting peacocks symbolizing the artist's tension with his patron. Industrialist Charles Lang Freer purchased the room in 1904 and had it transported from London to Detroit, before it was eventually installed at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery. The room continues to showcase Asian ceramics as originally intended, maintaining its status as a unique confluence of Western and Eastern artistic traditions.
Size: 8256px × 5504px
Location: National Mall, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Photo credit: © David Coleman | Have Camera Will Travel / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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