A Dazzling Reinvention of Whistler’s Masterpiece
This January, contemporary American artist Darren Waterston brings his extraordinary reimagining of James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s famed Peacock Room to the V&A. Filthy Lucre is a stunning, immersive installation that transforms Whistler’s gilded dining room into a decadent ruin, exposing the tensions of art and money, patronage and ego that surrounded its creation.
With meticulous attention to detail, Waterston faithfully recreates every element of the Peacock Room, but with a dark twist—its opulence now fractured, distorted, and collapsing under its own excess. The result is an uneasy spectacle of grandeur in decay, a magnificent space haunted by the very forces that once gave it life.
The Scandal Behind the Peacock Room
Originally commissioned by Frederick Leyland, the Peacock Room was intended to be a refined dining space. Whistler was brought in to make subtle color refinements, but in a notorious act of artistic defiance, he instead redesigned the entire room in Leyland’s absence. The result was a masterpiece of gilded decoration, but also the beginning of a bitter feud between the artist and his patron.
What followed was a very public falling-out, with their conflict spilling into London’s society pages. The Peacock Room became a symbol of artistic audacity and personal betrayal, with Leyland famously depicted as a bloated, coin-clutching peacock in Whistler’s infamous satirical painting, The Gold Scab: Eruption in Frilthy Lucre (The Creditor).
A Ruined Splendor: Waterston’s Vision
Waterston’s Filthy Lucre does not merely recreate the Peacock Room—it deconstructs it, peeling back layers of luxury to reveal the tensions and contradictions beneath. The once-pristine surfaces are now fractured, furniture is distorted and sagging, and gilded walls are streaked with decay. The entire room has been transformed into a ghostly relic of artistic ambition and excess, mirroring the egos and tensions that shaped its past.
Accompanying the installation, a soundscape by New York-based rockers BETTY fills the space with whispers of gossip and the mournful strains of a cello, evoking the drama of Whistler, Leyland, and the room’s original architect, Thomas Jeckyll, whose contributions were overshadowed by Whistler’s extravagant revisions.
A UK First: Bringing Filthy Lucre to the V&A
Though the original Peacock Room was once housed near the V&A before being relocated to the Freer Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Filthy Lucre makes its UK debut at the museum, accompanied by supporting materials and video content that delve into the room’s scandalous history.
Originally created in collaboration with MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, Filthy Lucre comes to the UK courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York, offering audiences a rare chance to step inside a space where artistic genius, power struggles, and sheer excess collide.
A Space Collapsing Under Its Own Weight
Reflecting on his work, Waterston explains:
"I set out to recreate Whistler's fabled Peacock Room in a state of decadent demolition – a space collapsing in on itself, heavy with its own excess and tumultuous history."
Filthy Lucre is more than an homage—it is a bold critique of art, wealth, and the fragile balance between artistic vision and financial power. This is not just a room; it is a ruined stage, where ambition, rivalry, and artistic obsession still echo through its crumbling grandeur.
