London - Venice, 1775 -1851 · Water, light and dissolution

From the Salute porch, Venice barely stands out from its reflection: Turner transforms palace, lagoon and sky into a single luminous material.

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in London in 1775 and died there in 1851. Trained at a very young age at the Royal Academy, he built an immense body of work of landscapes, seascapes, watercolors and notebooks. Venice, seen from the porch of the Madonna della Salute, painted around 1835 in oil on canvas, measures 91.4 × 122.2 cm. The composition starts from a light pencil drawing made during Turner's first Venetian voyage in 1819, but its light owes especially to the second stay in 1833. The foundations of the palaces mingle with the lagoon with delicate reflections; the architectural details remain precise enough to situate the view, then dissolve into the atmosphere. Presented at the Royal Academy in 1835, the canvas receives an enthusiastic welcome. Turner brings together his experience as a marine painter and the transparency acquired through watercolor. The "Joseph Mallord William Turner" selection notably compares Venice, seen from the porch of the Madonna della Salute. His reading favors the material.

In Venice, Turner not only paints what water reflects: he paints the moment when the city seems to become water and light.