Turner exhibition

We popped across to Adelaide on Easter Sunday to see an exhibition of Turner paintings from the Tate Gallery in London. Sadly the exhibition is only going to Adelaide and Canberra, and not to Melbourne. We love Turner and couldn't bear to miss seeing some of his paintings, so Adelaide it was! We last saw these paintings at the Tate in (gasp) 1983.

Adelaide was a bit grey and drizzly but that didn't matter for a flying trip. We've been to the Adelaide Art Gallery before and it is always a treat. (One of the recently acquired modern pieces is two half-horses -- real, stuffed -- joined into one strange beast and hung from the ceiling.)

But back to the romance and beauty of Turner.

In Turner's day (late 1700s, early 1800s), many of the critics and much of the public were critical of his lack of detail, of the 'impression' of light he created, rather than a literal depiction. Turner was a romantic artist -- long before the Impressionists -- but the Impressionists stand on his giant shoulders.

We own some high-quality art reproductions of Turner's works, including some beautiful books. But no reproduction captures the extraordinary quality of light in the original paintings. It's impossible to convey the way that light seems to emanate from the original paintings unless you see them. The paintings look as though there is a light source in the paintings themselves. They are astoundingly brilliant (in the real sense of the word).

Most of Turner's early work is in watercolour. He used layers and layers of translucent colour to achieve the clarity of the water and the light shining through hazy mist. Later paintings are in oils: brilliant, golden, creamy light exploding from the canvas. Here are some photos that I took at the exhibition. Obviously no flash is allowed, and there are reflections from some of the glass covering the paintings, but these photos give you some idea of what we saw.

The last photograph is a close-up detail of the preceding painting (the left-hand corner).

We loved this exhibition. It was a great way to spend Easter! (Monet's garden paintings are coming to Melbourne in May. Can't wait ...)