William Turner · Rain, steam and speed

1844 – Oil on canvas – National Gallery, London

Turner is arguably the best landscape painter of all Western Art, and this supreme masterwork constitutes an almost impressionistic work. The picture is a sensational conclusion to Turner’s investigations about the representation of light and atmospheric effects in painting, which were developed during his time as a professor in the Royal Academy, where Turner learned Newton and Goethe’s theories about light and colour.

In this painting, the authentic protagonist, even ahead of the dynamic locomotive, is the changing English atmosphere, an effect increased by the steam caused by the powerful machinery. Many art critics -and later many impressionist painters- felt a deep fascination for this quick locomotive. When this painting was first exhibited in 1844, a critic wrote: “a train advances towards you, a train that really moves at 50 miles per hour, and the reader would do well to see it before it leaves the painting”

Text: G. Fernández, theartwolf.com