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J.M.W. Turner and the Sublime

Curated by: Isis Marina Graham,

Trustee of The Turner Museum

December 2008

No greater homage was ever given to any artist at any time than the letter penned in 1877 by Boudin, Cassat, Degas, Monet,

Morisot, Pissaro, Renoir and Sisley:

A group of French painters, united by the same aesthetic tendencies… applying themselves with passion to the rendering of reality

of form in movement as well as the fugitive phenomena of light, cannot forget that they have been preceded in this path by a great

master of the English school, the illustrious Turner.

JMW Turner was given this homage because he is, arguably, the greatest artist of the romantic period. He embodied a movement

and embraced the Burkean theory of the sublime, becoming known as the painter of light.

In A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful, 1757, Edmund Burke discusses the sublime using terms such as

astonishment, terror, obscured, and vast – yet perhaps his most important theory, in relation to Turner, is that on light. Burke states:

Mere light is too common a thing to make a strong impression on the mind, and without

a strong impression nothing can be sublime. But such a light as that of the sun,

immediately exerted on the eye, as it overpowers the sense, is a very great idea…But darkness is more productive of the sublime

ideas than light…Extreme light, by overcoming organs of sight, obliterates all objects, so as in its effect exactly to resemble

darkness…Thus two ideas as opposite as can be imagined reconciled in the extremes of both; and both in spite of their opposite

nature brought to concur in producing the sublime,(120-121).

Turner’s ability to bring this concept to the canvas is astonishing. In many of his paintings, Turner uses light and color to draw us in,

illuminating the image in a way that momentarily blinds us by its brilliance. We get the sense of looking directly into the sun,

blinking for a moment before we can take the whole image in. He then contrasts the light by thoughtfully placed splashes of

pure black, drawing the viewer back out, grounding us in the reality of the image. Once we have been drawn out, we

experience one of the most sublime emotions of all – that of astonishment. “The passion caused by the great and sublime in

nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all

motions are suspended, with some degree of horror” (Burke 101). Perhaps one of the most sublime examples of this is

“Snowstorm: Steamboat Off a Harbour’s Mouth”, first exhibited in 1842,(see illustration below).

 

“Snowstorm” contrasts dark and light in a way that is nothing short of sublime. At first glance this painting could be seen as

abstract. In fact, when it was first exhibited art critics gaffed, describing it as nothing more than soapsuds and whitewash. But,

when someone takes the time to study this piece it is undeniably apparent that Turner has captured sublime reality. Yet the

contrast of dark and light creates a visual

vortex, a technique that Turner became famous for in his late career. He used circular movement, and even circular canvases,

to represent our way of seeing. It has been said that: the soundbite of the sublime is the visual vortex.

Many of Turner’s late paintings are visual vortexes, but “Snowstorm” is the penultimate expression of this technique. The painters

quoted in the letter above couldn’t have put it better themselves — “Snowstorm” is a “rendering of reality of form in movement as

well as the fugitive phenomena of light.” In the center there is a nearly blinding sail of white being swallowed by a storm of

darkness. The ocean swells on the bottom right of the frame, and the steam from the boat’s engine is being swept away by the

storm. There are a number of angel figures surrounding the boat; perhaps Turner included these guardians because of how this

painting came to be.

It is rumored that in Turner’s late career he requested to come aboard a sailboat when a storm was brewing. He wanted to observe

the storm first hand, but it even went beyond that. Turner insisted that he be tied to the mast, and is quoted as saying: "I got the

sailors to lash me to the mast to observe it; I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it,

if I did”,(www.turnermuseum.org). Turner did escape it, and he did record it. “Snowstorm” gives us the sense of being in the eye of

the storm, watching the sea swell and the sky turn black. Turner has a gift at depicting the sublime, but this act shows us that he

was also dedicated to the experience of the sublime, unafraid to lift the veil of Isis and look at the sublime face to face. He was

dedicated to experiencing all of the passions of the sublime, even terror.

 No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. For fear being an apprehension of pain or

death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain. Whatever therefore is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too,

whether this cause of terror, be endued with greatness of dimensions or not; for it is impossible to look on any thing as trifling, or

contemptible, that may be dangerous,(Burke, 101).

It is no wonder than, that Turner’s paintings inspire such astonishment in viewers, Turner allows himself to experience terror in the

face of nature, and for us that translates as astonishment. They frequently use the same word, to signify indifferently the modes of

astonishment or admiration and those of terror… (Fear or wonder, terrible or respectable, astonishment and amazement, etc.)

(Burke 102)

Turner’s fascination with terror and astonishment did not stop with natural landscapes — he has also explored the sublime through

the depiction of heaven and hell. His most famous work in this vein is “Angel Standing in the Sun” (1846). Once again, we see the

vortex style often present in Turner’s later career is present. As a narrative, this painting showsthe Archangel Michael appearing on

the Day of Judgment with his flaming sword. In the foreground are Old Testament scenes of murder and betrayal: Adam .

and Eve weep over the body of Abel on the left, and Judith stands over the headless body of Holofernes on the right. Most recently,

it has been speculated that this is a self-portrait, in a spiritual sense. Turner himself was not a conventionally religious man, but it

has been speculated that this painting reflects Turner’s concern how his life and art would be judged. This fear is completely

obscure particularly for a man questioning the eternal, who has had a full experience of the natural world, including being tied to the

mast of a ship during a gale. Turner was a master of the natural world; so perhaps what seemed most sublime to him at this late

point in his life and career was the unknown.

When we know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes.

Every one will be sensible of this, who considers how greatly night adds to our dread, in all cases of danger, and how much the

notions of ghosts and goblins, of which none can form clear ideas, affect mind, which give credit to the popular tales concerning

such sort of beings. (Burke 103)

Burke was a deeply religious man, so for him the example of night, ghosts and goblins, and the momentary lapse of reason in

believing these secular tales is obscure, is unknown, is — sublime. But for Turner, death is representative of night and darkness; the

ghosts and goblins could be devils and angels; and in a religious society it is doubtful that Turner never questioned the unknown

future that lay ahead of him. Whether or not Turner questioned his fate in the eyes of the Lord, it is known that he was concerned

about the ultimate judgment of man. He was an extremely competitive among his peers, and his concern about his legacy haunted

him. Despite this concern, Turner is considered the ultimate painter of the sublime, the painter of light, and is arguably the greatest

artist of the Romantic Movement. He has been named the favorite artist of Miro, Dali, Moore, and Rothko and hundreds of books

have been written about his work, many focusing on Turner and his illustrious relationship with the sublime.

Works Cited

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Sublime and Beautiful, by Edmund Burke, 1757, and

Other Pre-Revolutionary Writings: Ed. David Womersley. New York: Penguin Books Limited, 1998.

List of J.M.W. Turner illustrations not specifically identified in the text, in order of their appearance

Sunset with Fishermen; The Fighting Temeraire; The Slaveship; Rockets and Blue Lights; Light and Color – Geothe’s Theory;

Glaucus and Scylla and Big Wave off Quilleboeuf.

 

NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR

The engraved version of the "Snowstorm", hung in the main dining room gallery of The Turner Museum in Denver from 1976 to

1995, turned out to be one of the museum's most popular and admired exhibits. It was considered by many superior to the oil

version.

It is reproduced below. You be the judge.

Cassat          Constable         Degas           Matisse           Miro          Monet            Moore            Dali                Renoir           Rothko          Sisley 

  

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