Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851) is one of the most famous British artists of all time. The gallery of contemporary art in Margate bears his name, and recently a film about the later period of his life was made, nominated for an Oscar award. However, Turner is an artist who is not easy to pin down – reclusive and enigmatic, he has always been a challenging subject for biographers. He is officially considered a painter of the Romantic movement, but his expressive and energetic style often seems closer to later artistic styles. Many will say that Turner laid the foundations for Impressionism with his work. Like all innovators in the world of art, he was a controversial figure during his lifetime. Today, Turner is regarded as an artist who elevated landscape painting to such a level that it could be compared to other painting genres for the first time (historical painting, portraits, mythological paintings).
Turner was born in 1775 as the son of a London barber and wig maker. Self-taught from an early age, exceptionally gifted, at the age of fourteen he enrolled at the Royal Academy. It didn’t take long for his talent to be recognized and he started exhibiting watercolors at the Academy in 1790, and oils in 1796.
In his youth, he traveled around England, drawing and painting rural landscapes, and his earliest works are part of the 18th-century landscape tradition. He was greatly inspired by Dutch artists from the 17th century, such as Willem van der Velde, as well as Italian landscapes by Claude Lorrain and Richard Wilson.
In 1799, at the age of twenty-four – the youngest allowed age – he was elected as an associate member of the Royal Academy, and in 1802 as a full member. During those years, the war borders with Europe temporarily opened, and Turner traveled abroad for the first time, visiting France and Switzerland. Throughout his life, he extensively traveled around Europe, sketching and later creating paintings in his studio in England. Turner was primarily a watercolorist, Although equally skilled in oil painting technique.
During that time, a romantic movement began to emerge in all fields of art, as an antithesis to classicism and enlightenment, styles that emphasized reason and form. Turner was an intuitive romantic – for him, emotions and the freedom of imagination were of utmost importance, which can be seen in his use of extreme contrasts of intense light and gloomy clouds, dramatic landscapes, and energetic brushstrokes. After becoming a master of various painting mediums, he realized that he had to take it a step further and began to experiment intensively with painting techniques. This need to break free from the shackles of the past and formalism, to create a style that matched the creative impulse that constantly smoldered within him, shaped him into a truly unusual artist.
By exploring himself and observing nature, he gradually became a painter of light. The main element of his works became brilliant, shining colors, which can be very well appreciated. Turner’s landscapes reveal the motifs that fascinated him during that period. He was particularly drawn to storms and floods, mountains and the sea. These powerful natural forces also serve as a backdrop for the ongoing drama played out before every individual’s eyes. Turner portrays the world in a state of flux, and the moments he chooses for his paintings convey an awareness of the transience of time. He often captures everyday phenomena in nature – the slow creep of glaciers in the Alps, sudden avalanches, the foaming rise of the ocean, powerful gusts of wind – yet the strength of these scenes is immeasurable. The constant transformation of nature fascinated him, as if he were chasing lost moments in time. The paintings become narratives of moments in time, so vivid and real that the observer feels as though they are there, in that very moment.
As an avid traveler and explorer of the world, many of Turner’s works were inspired by literature, mythology, and the history of the places he visited. Turner was enchanted by nature, but he was also interested in the role of mankind in the whirlwind of passing time. Turner lived in times that brought about significant changes in people’s everyday lives. It was the era of early industry, the introduction to the era of machines, something entirely new, foreign, and unexplored. In addition to his role as a painter, Turner became an excellent chronicler of that turbulent time. For a better understanding of how people felt amidst all the changes back then, as well as a clearer view of a nation rapidly developing at the peak of the industrial revolution, some of Turner’s paintings are invaluable, such as The Burning of the Houses of Parliament (depicting the burning of the Parliament buildings), Rain, Steam, and Speed (depicting the Great Western Railway), and The Fighting Temeraire (depicting the steamship being towed to its final berth to be dismantled).
Later in life, Turner painted simple scenes of the sea and the sky that appear almost abstract. John Constable, a recognized artist and Turner’s contemporary, said of him: “Turner… seems to paint with steam in various colors, everything is so unreal, transient, and fleeting.” “Airy.” The resemblance to the works of Impressionist painters (who operated in the late 19th century) is astonishing, which is why Turner is often considered a precursor to Impressionism. In 1840, he met the most famous art critic of the Victorian era, John Ruskin, who became a great supporter of his work.
Until his death from cholera in 1851, at the age of seventy-six, Turner gained great reputation and wealth. In his will, he left nearly three hundred paintings and around thirty thousand drawings to Great Britain (Bequest to the nation). Today, this impressive collection is mainly housed in the Tate Britain gallery in London.