Enfilade

From the Royal Museums Greenwich:

Turner and the Sea
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, 22 November 2013 — 21 April 2014
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, 4 June — 1 September 2014

J.M.W. Turner, The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, 1822-24 (detail)
© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

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This major exhibition is the first full-scale examination of Turner’s lifelong preoccupation with the sea. Including iconic works spanning the artist’s whole career from his transformative Academy paintings of the late 1790s and early 1800s, to the unfinished, experimental seascapes he produced towards the end of his life, this show will re-evaluate the compelling appeal of the sea for Turner and his contemporaries.

By placing his works alongside those by other major British, European and American artists, this exhibition will give viewers the opportunity to see the ways in which Turner responded to the art of the past, while challenging his audiences with a new and exciting maritime vision.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see works gathered together from across the world, including major loans from Europe and the USA; and to reconsider Turner’s extraordinary ability to represent the power of the sea in all its aspects: dramatic, contemplative, beautiful and sublime.

In connection with the exhibition, Greenwich will host a conference, 21–22 March 2014.

Note (added 2 September 2013) — The exhibition press release is available here»