1775 -1851 · London, Royal Academy, Europe and Turner Bequest

Light, steam, sea and color dissolve shapes in the visionary work of JMW Turner, master of the British romantic landscape.

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in London in 1775 and entered the Royal Academy schools at fourteen. Trained in topographical drawing, copying and watercolor, he exhibited very early then became an academician in 1802. His travels in Great Britain and on the continent nourished landscapes observed there, but Turner's ambition goes beyond description: he elevates the landscape to the rank of history painting. Storms, fires, battles, myths, ports, mountains and cities become theaters of light. Storms, fires, battles, myths, ports, mountains and cities become theaters of light. In Snowstorm: Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps, the atmospheric spiral overwhelms the human event. The Golden Bough transforms the classic story into golden apparition, while Ulysses and Polyphemus confuse ancient adventure, sea and sun. Over the course of his career, the touch was freed and color gained an autonomy which would make him see a precursor of modernity. When he died in 1851, an immense collection of oils, watercolors, drawings and notebooks joined the British nation under the name Turner Bequest. When he died in 1851, an immense collection of oils, watercolors, drawings and notebooks joined the British nation under the name Turner Bequest. The "JMW Turner" selection notably compared Snowstorm: Hannibal crossing the Alps and The Golden Bough. His reading favors color.

In Turner, the subject is never separated from the air that envelops it: light and color become the event itself.