Joseph Mallord William Turner
Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth
exhibited 1842
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Artwork details
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1775–1851
Title
Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth
Date
Exhibited 1842
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 914 x 1219 mm
frame: 1233 x 1535 x 145 mm
frame: 1233 x 1535 x 145 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
N00530
On display at Tate Britain
Exhibition: Late Turner
Display caption
Turner painted many pictures exploring the effects of an elemental vortex. Here, there is a steam-boat at the heart of the vortex. In this context the vessel can
be interpreted as a symbol of mankind’s futile efforts to combat the forces of nature.
It is famously said that Turner conceived
this image while lashed to the mast of a ship during an actual storm at sea. This seems to be nothing more than fiction, but the story has endured as a way of demonstrating Turner’s full-blooded engagement with the
world around him.
February 2004
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