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    J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free

    February 24–May 24, 2015

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    Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth / JMW Turner

    Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth, exhibited 1842, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856. Photo © Tate, London 2014

  • Norham Castle, Sunrise / JMW Turner

    Norham Castle, Sunrise, about 1845, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856. Photo © Tate, London 2014

  • The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons / JMW Turner

    Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834, exhibited 1835, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art: The John Howard McFadden Collection, 1928

  • Blue Rigi, Sunrise / JMW Turner

    The Blue Rigi, Sunrise, 1842, J. M. W. Turner, watercolor. Courtesy of Tate: Purchased with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation and including generous support from David and Susan Gradel, and from other members of the public through the Save The Blue Rigi appeal), Tate Members, and other donors 2007. Photo © Tate, London 2014

  • Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino / JMW Turner

    Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino, exhibited 1839, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. The J. Paul Getty Museum

  • Peace—Burial at Sea / JMW Turner

    Peace—Burial at Sea, 1842, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856. Photo © Tate, London 2014

  • Study of a Fire at the Grand Storehouse of the Tower of London / JMW Turner

    Fire at the Grand Storehouse of the Tower of London, 1841, J. M. W. Turner, watercolor. Courtesy of Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856. Photo © Tate, London 2014

  • The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa / JMW Turner

    The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa, exhibited 1842, J. M. W. Turner, oil on canvas. Courtesy of Tate: Presented by Robert Vernon 1847. Photo © Tate, London 2014

J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free

February 24–May 24, 2015, Getty Center

The first major exhibition on the West Coast devoted to the masterful British painter

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Extraordinarily inventive and enduringly influential, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) produced many of his most important and famous pictures after the age of sixty, in the last fifteen years of his life. Demonstrating ongoing radicalism of technique and ever-original subject matter, these works show Turner constantly challenging his contemporaries while remaining keenly aware of the market for his art.

Bringing together over sixty key oil paintings and watercolors, this major international loan exhibition is the first to focus on the unfettered creativity of Turner's final years.

The exhibition was organized by Tate Britain in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.

Tate



The moon is up, and yet it is not night,
The sun as yet disputes the day with her.
—Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812–18), as altered by Turner

One of the most influential painters of nature, Joseph Mallord William Turner produced some of his most audacious and innovative pictures during the last fifteen years of his life, after the age of sixty.

Never content to rest on his reputation, Turner continued to travel extensively, depicted novel subject matter, experimented with different canvas formats, and pioneered free and spontaneous techniques in both oil and watercolor. He developed new ways of rendering atmospheric and coloristic effects to convey the awesome and emotive powers of the elements, pushing the boundaries of expression in any media he used.

Yet even as he experimented with form and technique, Turner maintained a firm commitment to narrative and meaning in his compositions. Paintings that at first sight appear to solely illustrate effects of light and color frequently provide opportunities for contemplation on humanity’s role in history and place in the natural world. To reinforce such themes Turner often accompanied his paintings with lines of poetry including some by such literary luminaries as Lord Byron. Resisting the lure of romantic medieval subject matter favored by his contemporaries, Turner’s later work reflects his interest in the sea, in dramatic or poetic landscapes and cityscapes such as he found in Continental Europe, and in current events, including the modern state of Italy, the legacy of the Napoleonic Wars, and spectacular fires at the Palace of Westminster and the Tower of London.

Turner employed gestural brushwork and quasi-abstract subject matter to explore states of consciousness and the emotional power of color. These last paintings shocked and mystified his audience, many of whom thought them the products of senility or madness. While such works were often misunderstood and mocked by contemporary critics, they are now appreciated as a coda to Turner’s career, representing a synthesis of his innovations in technique, composition, and theme.

Turner died in 1851 at age seventy-six, leaving a trove of his work to the English nation. While popular and scholarly ideas about his work have evolved, he has emerged as a titan of nineteenth century art whose paintings retain their initial poetry and power.

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Related Events

All events are free, unless otherwise noted. Seating reservations are required. For reservations and information, please call (310) 440-7300 or see information on planning a visit.

Talks

J. M. W. Turner and “the finest poetic descriptions”

During his lifetime and well before John Ruskin’s defense in Modern Painters, J. M. W. Turner was the most celebrated landscape painter in Europe, admired as much for his historical landscapes as for his arresting naturalism. In this talk, Patrick Noon of the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts examines Turner’s status and influence among the major Romantic landscape painters in England and France.

Sunday, March 1, 3:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

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Does Artistic Greatness Only Come with Age?

Creative men and women often produce their greatest work after middle age. Is experience—in life, in art, in love, and loss—necessary to create works that stand the test of time? Or is age merely a number when it comes to creativity? This panel, presented with Zócalo Public Square, explores the relationship between age and artistic greatness.

Tuesday, March 24, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

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Sonnets and Sonatas presents Swan Song: On Late Style

To what extent are late works significant in artists’ careers? What light does it shed on their earlier work and in what way does it influence their followers? What kind of legacy is the so-called “swan song”? Starting from those questions and inspired by philosophers like Theodore Adorno and Edward Said, this program of lecture and performance presents late works of 19th-century composers (including Schubert, Beethoven, and Chopin), situating each composition in its context.

Wednesday, April 1, 7:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

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Splash! Turner and Watercolor

Capturing fleeting effects of light and atmosphere through abstracted and innovative techniques, Turner's watercolors are hailed as some of the greatest ever made. Julian Brooks, curator of drawings and co-curator of the exhibition J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free, explores the secrets of Turner's success.

Sunday, April 19, 3:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum Lecture Hall

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J. M. W. Turner and the Painting/Poetry Conundrum

Andrew Wilton, chairman of the Turner Society and curator emeritus of the Turner Bequest at the Tate Britain, speaks about J.M.W. Turner's relationship with poetry, an art form he admired, studied, and practiced. Horace's dictum that poetry does what painting does (Ut pictura poesis) underlay much of 18th-century thought, which Turner thoroughly absorbed as evidenced by his innovative synthesis of the two.

Sunday, April 26, 3:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum Lecture Hall

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College Night 2015

An evening of exclusive access to galleries, artist demonstrations, hands-on activities, and behind-the-scenes insights for college students. Food and music provided as well.

Monday, April 27, 6:00–9 :00 p.m.
Getty Center

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Serene and Eternal: Turner and Canaletto in Venice and Rome

“Venice was surely built to be painted by Canaletto and Turner,” wrote the Art Union in 1842. Peter Björn Kerber, co-curator of the exhibition J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free, discusses how the two painters took radically different approaches to portraying the splendors of Venice as well as the monuments of ancient and modern Rome: while Canaletto delighted in details of architecture and everyday life, Turner privileged atmosphere over accuracy.

Sunday, May 17, 3:00 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum Lecture Hall

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Courses

Watercolor Workshop

Join artist Richard Houston in this daylong workshop exploring J. M. W. Turner’s extraordinary and innovative late watercolors. Working in the studio, participants will experiment with watercolor materials, color mixing, light effects, and creative techniques through a series of discussions, exercises, and a tour of the exhibition J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free. Course fee $125 (includes materials and lunch). Complimentary parking.

Sunday, March 1, 10:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Repeats Sunday, April 19.
Getty Center: Museum Studios

Drawing from the Masters: The Art of Landscape

Enjoy the tradition of sketching from original works of art every first and third Sundays of the month at the Getty Center. In March and April, explore ways to divide space and compose pictorial elements to create dynamic landscape drawings with artist Stas Orlovski. All experience levels welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. This is a free program. Sign-up begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Information Desk.

Sunday, March 1 and 15, and April 19, 3:30–5:30 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum galleries

Drawing from the Masters: Plein Air Sketching

Enjoy the tradition of sketching at the Getty Center every first and third Sundays of the month at the Getty Center. In May, explore plein air sketching in the Central Garden with artist Deborah Shaw. All experience levels welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring sketchpads. This is a free program. Sign-up begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Information Desk.

Sunday, May 3 and 17, 3:30–5: 30 p.m.
Getty Center: Central Garden

Performance

Saturday Nights at the Getty: Year without a Summer: Poetry for J. M. W. Turner

The Write Now Poetry Society presents an evening of poetry, music, and art. Stars of contemporary poetry perform new work inspired by the art of J.M.W. Turner, whose visually stunning, heart-pounding exploration of the struggle with darkness came out of mastering light. Tickets available beginning Tuesday, April 21.

Saturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
Getty Center: Harold M. Williams Auditorium

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Tours

Curator’s Gallery Tour

Peter Björn Kerber, assistant curator of paintings, the J. Paul Getty Museum, leads a gallery tour of the exhibition. Meet under the stairs in the Entrance Hall.

Wednesday, February 25, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 19, 1:30 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum galleries

Curator’s Gallery Tour

Julian Brooks, curator of drawings, the J. Paul Getty Museum, leads a gallery tour of the exhibition. Meet under the stairs in the Entrance Hall.

Wednesday, March 4, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14, 1:30 p.m.
Getty Center: Museum galleries

Special Hours

Special Hours

Open late May 23 and 24

The exhibition stays open till 9:00 p.m. for its final weekend, Saturday and Sunday, May 23 and 24, 2015.

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Mobile Tour

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Explore the emotional power, innovative techniques and controversial reception of Turner's later work with experts from the Getty Museum and Tate Britain.

Pick up a multimedia player free of charge in the Museum Entrance Hall.

The multimedia tour is also available for your smartphone; bring your own headphones. Join GettyLink for free Wi-Fi during your visit.

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