Source: dailymail.co.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
Joseph Mallard William Turner, one of the greatest landscape artists of all time, was born on this day in 1775. Let’s celebrate his birthday with images of his work and quotations by this amazing painter.
Light is therefore colour.
Turner’s metal paintbox. Source: tate.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
Referring to Rembrandt…
No painter knew so well the extent of his own powers and his own weakness. Conscious of the power as well as the necessity of shade, he took the utmost boundaries of darkness and allowed but one-third of light, which light dazzles the eye thrown upon some favorite point, but where is judgement kept pace with his choice, surrounded with impenetrable shade.
Source: tate.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
Painting is a strange business.
From the “Vale of Heathfield” sketchbook. Source: tate.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
There’s a sketch at every turn.
JMW Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839. Source: nationalgallery.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
I don’t paint so that people will understand me, I paint to show what a particular scene looks like.
Snow Storm: Steam Boat off a River’s Mouth, by JMW Turner. Source: tate.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
If I could find anything blacker than black, I’d use it.
From a series of perspective sketches made by JMW Turner. Source: turnercontemporary.org via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
…my job is to draw what I see, not what I know.
Brighton Beach, with the Chain Pier in the Distance, from the West. Source: tate.org.uk via Wrenaissance on Pinterest
You should tell him that indistinctness is my forte. - Turner’s reply upon hearing that collector James Lenox had complained that the painting Fingal’s Cave, purchased by Lenox through a broker, was “indistinct.”
And by the way, a happy St. George’s Day to all of you in England, Catalonia, and Rio de Janeiro!
Resources:
The Painter’s Keys by Robert Genn
