If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Much like Alice stepping tentatively through the two-dimensional plane of the looking glass into the possibilities beyond, the viewer is invited to deduce his own meaning, to form his own associations, thus essentially taking part in the creative process itself.

The gardens were popular as a place of amusement, offering concerts, dancing and, as in this painting, a nightly display of fireworks. Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket is a c. 1875 painting by James Abbott McNeill Whistler held in the Detroit Institute of Arts. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. The painting exemplified the Art for art's sake movement – a concept formulated by Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. First shown at the Grosvenor Gallery in London in 1877, it is one of two works inspired by the Cremorne Gardens, a celebrated pleasure resort in London. In 1877 exhibited ‘Nocturne in Black and Gold-The Falling Rocket’ at the first exhibition of Grosvenor Gallery. Whi… One might say that for some artworks, seeing beyond the artist’s intention to form a more indefinite, personal interpretation is, ironically, the creator’s ultimate objective after all. Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket19th century American sculpture, architecture and photographyWhistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket19th century American sculpture, architecture and photographyWhistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling RocketWhistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere.Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket19th century American sculpture, architecture and photographyWhistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket19th century American sculpture, architecture and photography The picture was attacked by Ruskin, who accused Whistler of “flinging a pot of paint into the public’s face”. Artwork page for ‘Nocturne: Black and Gold - The Fire Wheel’, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1875 This is one of the nocturnes that Whistler painted of Cremorne Gardens, at the west end of Chelsea beside the river Thames. Whistler retaliated by suing Ruskin for libel.