Image: Firstsite, Colchester
Firstsite Cinema in Colchester will screen ‘Exhibition on Screen: James McNeill Whistler’ from 17 to 20 September 2026, bringing a film about the 19th-century artist to the Essex venue. The programme presents Whistler’s world-famous paintings alongside works described by Firstsite as rarely seen, or never previously shown on the big screen.
The screening is part of Firstsite’s cinema programme, which includes family films, world cinema, independent films, blockbusters and filmed performances of theatre, opera and ballet. Firstsite Cinema is powered by Curzon, and the Whistler presentation is listed among its ‘Exhibition on Screen’ events.
Firstsite’s description characterises Whistler as “a truly global figure” who “re-wrote the rules of what it meant to be an artist”. The cinema listing adds that he is considered by some to be one of the great innovators of 19th-century art. It places him in the period of the Impressionists and identifies him as an artist admired by Vincent van Gogh and Édouard Manet.
The film focuses on Whistler’s artistic world through a combination of familiar and less frequently seen works. The material supplied by Firstsite does not specify the film’s director, contributors or production history, but describes the presentation as an opportunity to see the paintings in a cinema setting and, in some cases, on the big screen for the first time.
The Whistler screenings are scheduled alongside other activity at Firstsite during the same week, including the opening of Simon Carter’s exhibition ‘From the Landscape’ on 18 September. That exhibition is a separate programme at Firstsite’s galleries, while the Whistler event is listed specifically for Firstsite Cinema. Carter’s exhibition will continue through 17 January 2027, but is not part of the film screening itself.
Firstsite is a contemporary arts organisation and registered charity based at Lewis Gardens on Colchester’s High Street. Its exhibition programme includes free presentations, while its cinema operates with peak and off-peak pricing. The venue’s published cinema listing gives an initial Whistler screening time of 5pm on Thursday 17 September, with further times available across the 17–20 September run. Firstsite Cinema, Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex CO1 1JH.
