Whalers

Joseph Mallord William Turner · ca. 1845

Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner British, London 1775–1851 London
Date: ca. 1845
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 36 1/8 x 48 1/4 in. (91.8 x 122.6 cm)
Where to see it: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1896 · CC0 Public Domain · The Met · see it at the museum ↗

Slow Look

The whole picture Let your eyes wander. Where do they want to rest?
The light Find the brightest spot. What is it showing you?
The edges Look at what is half cut off at the borders.
One small detail Choose one tiny thing and stay with it for a while.
The whole picture again Step back. Has it changed for you?

About Joseph Mallord William Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner, known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter and is regarded as one of the greatest British painters of the 19th century. His expressive renditions of light and atmosphere and bold use of colour in landscape painting inspired the early impressionists Monet and Pissarro.

Painter profile →