J.M.W. Turner: Romance and Reality

The Yale Center for British Art is home to the finest (and largest) collection of art by J.M.W. Turner in the United States, ranging from his view of the harbour at Dordrecht (1818) to later masterpieces that display the intensity of his mature Romantic style, including Staffa, Fingal’s Cave (c. 1831–1832) and Inverary Pier, Loch Fyne: Morning (c. 1845). These works and more can be seen in the museum’s first exhibition dedicated to Britain’s most celebrated painter in more than 30 years (29 March–27 July). There is no shortage of Turner exhibitions this year, the 250th anniversary of his birth, but this one focuses specifically on the tension between realism and expressiveness in his work, as well as giving an insight into his creative process, displaying preparatory drawings, watercolours, prints and the artist’s only complete sketchbook outside the British Isles.

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Find out more from the Yale Center for British Art’s website

Mer de Glace, in the Valley of Chamonix (c. 1815), J.M.W. Turner. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Dort, or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed (1818), J.M.W. Turner. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

Inverary Pier, Loch Fyne: Morning (c. 1845), J.M.W. Turner. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven