Confidence in the Garden

According to the artist's correspondence with the printerThomas Way, this image was initially called The Sisters,but Whistler decided to alter its title to Confidencesin the Garden. The lithograph shows his wife, BeatrixWhistler, and her sister, Ethel Birnie Philip, absorbedin conversation as they stroll through the Whistlers'lush, late-summer garden at 110 rue de Bac, Paris. The abbreviated suggestions of blossoms, climbing vines,and a grassy path are typical of the artist's late depictions of nature.