Rough Sea
1845
107.0 x 137.0 cm
This late, unfinished painting presents very little in the way of identifiable detail. The dark form in the center could be a seawall or a harbor, but what Turner has really captured is a sense of the power of the sea and the merging of water and air at the horizon line. While many viewers disparaged the rough paintings from the Turner Bequest that first surfaced in the early twentieth century, the Bloomsbury art critic, painter, and early Metropolitan Museum curator Roger Fry admired their abbreviation and restraint, noting that Turner could convey the "intimate, imaginative grasp of the tension and stress which underlie the appearance" of his subject "in a few hurried scratches."
J.M.W. Turner (? – ?)
A leading figure of the Romantic movement, J.M.W. Turner captivated audiences with his atmospheric landscapes and seascapes like 'The Fighting Temeraire' and pioneered expressive painting techniques – discover the beauty and drama within his timeless masterpieces.
About this artwork
- Title: Rough Sea
- Artist: J.M.W. Turner
- Year: 1845
- Original dimensions: 107.0 x 137.0 cm
- Format: Landscape
- Copyright status: Under copyright
- Color intensity: Vivid
- Perceived brightness: brilliant