This fragment, cut from the original canvas, is all that remains of Whistler’s painting The Three Girls. The ghostly silhouette of brushstrokes around the girl’s head and the overworked yet still unresolved forms of her fingers and toes confirm the artist’s struggle to perfect each detail. They also suggest that even at this advanced stage, the painting remained unfinished.
James McNeill Whistler
1868–78
Oil on canvas
The Courtauld Art Gallery, London. Private Collection (on loan to The Courtauld Gallery)