This English artist (1775-1851) was one of the greatest English landscape painters, known for his dramatic treatment of luminosity.
The British artist said it William Turner: “I don’t have any secrets, but I work hard. This is a secret that many never learn and do not succeed because they do not learn it. Work is the genius that changes the world from ugliness to beauty, and the great curse to a great blessing ”.
His devotion to intense artistic work found coincidences in his deep admiration for light, an element that seems to spill over in abundance in his drawings, watercolors and oils, mostly geared towards landscaping.
Turner was born in late April or early May 1775 in the Covent Garden area of London. His father was a barber and his mother a homemaker. He worked as an assistant to several architects, but at the age of 14 he began studying at the Royal Academy of Art, entity that welcomed him as a member in 1802, professor of perspective in 1807 and vice president in 1845.
His talent and intensity were evident from an early age, but he was also disputed by certain sectors of the art, perhaps for his lack of aristocratic roots. However, he captivated admirers and patrons who allowed him constant trips through countries such as France, Switzerland and Italy, which left, for example, their series of views of Venice. His methodology was recurrent: he took advantage of the summer to get to know the world and he dedicated the winter to capturing it.
“I don’t paint so that people understand me, I paint to show what a particular scene looks like”, wrote. “Selecting, combining and concentrating what is beautiful by nature and admirable in art is as much the business of the landscaper in his line as in other art departments.”
The scenes are seeded with romance and drama, accentuated by the treatment of atmospheric space and lighting effects, with a sun that often seems to give away its sunrises and sunsets. Turner “was the greatest painter England has ever produced”, indicates the British art historian Kenneth Clark in his book Civilization, adding that he was innovative in his very particular way of painting sunlight, storms, mist … He managed to transform everything, even feelings, “into pure color”, which was absolutely revolutionary in those years.
Turner was a fiercely reserved and often eccentric man. Never married. “I hate married men. They never make any sacrifices to the arts, ”he said, but had a long romantic relationship with Sophia Booth, the landlady of the seaside home he used to stay in in the seaside town of Margate, near London. Turner died at his home in Chelsea on December 19, 1851, having fulfilled the great goal that he set for himself in his life: “My job is to paint what I see, not what I know.” (I)
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