The display in the following rooms brings together two artists whose images have often been compared, and whose approaches to painting frequently coincided. Though separated by 150 years, Mark Rothko and JMW Turner shared an interest in images with universal associations, and in what might be called the sublime. Their mature work shows an increasing preoccupation with the play of light on the painted surface. Both artists moved away from precise naturalistic depiction towards a looser, more abstract mode of expression.

During the twentieth century Turner’s late or unfinished work was reassessed in light of the development of abstract painting. In 1966 an exhibition was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, devoted to those works. Turner: Imagination and Reality explored the contemporary resonances in his paintings, and promoted Turner as a modern artist and a precursor of Abstract Expressionism – the leading American art movement at that time. After seeing the New York exhibition Rothko made clear his admiration for his predecessor, remarking, ‘this man Turner, he learnt a lot from me’.

The Tate Gallery’s extensive collection of works by Turner was a motivation behind Rothko’s later donation to Tate of his Seagram murals (on display in Room T2). Rothko welcomed the idea that his paintings would be exhibited close to Turner’s.

This display has been devised by curator Ian Warrell, with assistance from Achim Borchardt-Hume,Bettina Kaufmann and Chris Stephens.

BP British Art Displays 1500-2009