'Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth

Date exhibited 1842

MediumOil paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 914 x 1219 mm frame: 1233 x 1535 x 145 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

N00530

On display at Tate Britain

Theme: Turner Collection

Room: Academic Ambitions

Display caption

Turner painted many pictures exploring the effects of an elemental vortex. Here, there is a steam-boat at the heart of the vortex. In this context the vessel can be interpreted as a symbol of mankind’s futile efforts to combat the forces of nature.

It is famously said that Turner conceived this image while lashed to the mast of a ship during an actual storm at sea. This seems to be nothing more than fiction, but the story has endured as a way of demonstrating Turner’s full-blooded engagement with the world around him.

February 2004