The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory, 1806, reworked 1808, oil on canvas This painting was one of my favorites from the show. It is massively large and the colors and detail are astonishing. It depicts a scene from the Napoleonic wars in which the British Admiral Horatio Nelson is felled by an assassin's bullet. (click image for larger view)
My husband and I went to the JMW Turner exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art on Friday. I wish I could show you photos but they didn't allow any. You can see a trailer for the exhibit here. And here is a link to google image results of his paintings, and some paintings on display at WebMuseum .
It was an amazing and humbling experience. Being exposed to art like this can of course cause inspiration but also anxiety about one's own work. The scale of alot of these paintings are huge, and just their size makes one feel awed by their grandeur. Being an artist, going to these exhibits in art museums is quite a spiritual experience, much like visiting a holy shrine. Turner's exhibit had a palpable feeling of the presence of Turner, like he was in the room. His works are powerful and it is hard to convey what it is like standing before one of these monumental and historically important works unless you experience it for yourself.
We spent the entire day going through about 150 paintings. We read every placard and also listened to the audio tour (they give you little devices to carry and you enter the number of the painting and it gives you an audio lecture).
For lunch we went to the West End and ate on the rooftop of the Gator restaurant. I had an alligator poboy and he had an oyster poboy and we shared some crawfish queso, which was delicious.
We had to get up and leave pretty early to make the 2+hour roadtrip, and so I was sleep deprived, which I'm sure affected my comprehension. It was still quite the learning experience and history lesson.
The museum was packed. There were thousands of people there over the course of the day. Since it was on a Friday night they had an event with a live orchestral band and catered coffee, a wine&beer bar, and food. There were no empty tables so we skipped eating, but watched the band for a few songs, then hit the road to go home.
This exhibit was moving to the extreme and affected me deeply. Being an oil painter, it was a life and hopefully a career changing experience for me.
Here are some of my favorite paintings from the exhibit: (click images for larger view)
Venice: The Dogana (Customs Office) and San Giorgio Maggiore, 1834, oil on canvas
Death on a Pale Horse, c. 1825-1835, oil on canvas
The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, 16th October, 1834, 1835, oil on canvas
Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835, oil on canvas
Sunrise with Sea Monsters, c. 1845; oil on canvas
There are of course so many others with touched me deeply. I highly recommend you have a look at some of his paintings on the internet. The exhibit has been held over another week, so make this exhibit if you can. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience.
You can get the catalogue from the show at Amazon for about half what it costs at the exhibit:
technorati tags: jmw turner, art
