Joseph Mallord William Turner - Snow storm- steam-boat off a harbor's mouth

• Title: Snow storm- steam-boat off a harbor's mouth
• Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
• Date: c. 1842
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 91 x 122 cm

The painting “Snow storm- steam-boat off a harbour’s mouth” depicts a paddle steamer caught in a snow storm. Turner is representing Nature unmastered by mankind and exploring the effects of the elements and the battle of the forces of the nature. Turner worked first as a watercolorist, much later with oils such as in this oil painting. Turner’s tints and shades of colors are painted in different layers of color with each brushstrokes adding texture to the painting. The silvery pale light that surrounds the boat draws the viewer into the painting and the spiral. The smoke from the steamboat spreads out over the sky, creating shapes like the waves.

Turner and Constable would both become great sources of inspiration for the Impressionists.