Turner is one of my favourite artists, mostly because of the light.
That sounds too simple, but it is true. His paintings can show storms, fires, wrecks, endings and strange weather, yet somehow the light makes them feel alive. Sometimes the subject is sad, but the colour lifts it into something else.
The Fighting Temeraire is a perfect example.
What is happening in the painting
The painting shows an old warship being pulled by a small steam tug towards its final breaking-up. The great ship had fought at Trafalgar. Now it is pale, ghostly and almost silent, being dragged away by a dark little boat from the modern industrial world.
Even if you do not know that history, you can feel the ending.
The old ship looks almost unreal, like a memory. The sky is glowing with gold, orange and pink. The sun is setting. Everything seems beautiful, but it is the beauty of something passing away.
That is what I love about Turner. He does not just paint a ship. He paints time. He paints the feeling of looking at something magnificent and knowing it will not come back.
The tug, the ship and the future
The steam tug matters too. It is ugly compared with the Temeraire, but it is also powerful. The future has arrived, and it does not care very much about romance.
So the painting is not only sad because one ship is being destroyed. It is sad because a whole world is being replaced.
Turner also cheated a little. By the time the real Temeraire made this trip up the Thames in 1838, her masts and sails had already gone. Turner gave them back to her. He wanted her to leave with some dignity, and he cared more about that feeling than about getting the rigging right.
He never sold the painting either. He called it his “darling”, kept it until he died, and left it to the nation along with the rest of his work.
Why the ending glows
And yet, somehow, Turner makes the ending glow.
That is the part I keep coming back to. The picture is full of loss, but it is not dead. It is bright, warm, and strangely generous.
Maybe that is why I like Turner so much. He can paint sadness without making the world feel empty.
Where to see The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire hangs at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, which feels right for a ship that fought at Trafalgar. Entry to the main collection is free. The gallery lists it in Room 40 at the time of writing, but rooms do change, so check its page before you go.
Image credit: J. M. W. Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839, The National Gallery, London. Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Source: Wikimedia Commons (National Gallery scan). Public domain. The painting is in the public domain, and Wikimedia Commons marks this faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional work as public domain (PD-Art).
More about J. M. W. Turner on the artists page.