Tate Britain 2018

JMW Turner

Although it was not the first time I went to Tate Britain, it never fails to welcome me with its elegance upon arriving at the white staircase. I wanted to see Turner's work because I was interested in watercolour and heard that he also used this media, though I was pleasantly surprised to find that he also used oil paints to create landscapes, narratives, and historic events. 

Firstly, I looked at his oil paintings. Turner is skillful in using light and reflections to draw the viewers' eyes by highlighting the subjects and creating depth through shadows. 'A Disaster at Sea' is an unfinished painting inspired by the wreck of the Amphriphite off Boulogne in 1833. The figures were oddly shaped and seemed to merge into each other, showing the chaos of the disastrous event. This piece caught my eye as, despite of its incompletion, Turner was already attracting my attention through his use of composition and depth. The outlines themselves matched the dystopian theme and it did not seem unfinished to me. 

Next, I looked at the watercolour pieces, consisting of landscapes from other countries or urban areas of Britain. In the collection 'Sunset Drawings', Turner made many half-finished watercolours now called 'sample studies'. They often had blurred edges and had vibrant blues and reds to seem refreshing and dream-like. The contrast between these two hues also gave a sense of warmth and separated the buildings from the sky and water. On the other hand, his urban landscapes were much more defined and focused mostly on cooler hues. They were centred around architectural locations and had a lot of depth with its darker tones. Along with the cool colours, this made the paintings seem sullen and cold unlike the welcoming sample studies. Personally, I favoured the pieces which had a mixture of both defined buildings and blurred backgrounds. An example is the attached image - inviting hues are used throughout the painting and the use of minimal edges gives definition to guide the viewers' eyes without making the building look too stiff. 

Marguerite Humeau: 'Echoes'

After looking at Turner's works, I explored the rest of the art in Tate Britain, which mostly included sculptures and oil paintings and portraits. However, towards the end of my visit, I was surprised with what I believe was the most shocking room in the building. The room was painted yellow from ceiling to floor with white sculptures shaped like sound waves and animals. In the background played a loud audio clip of distorted, incoherent voices and, as I was unfamiliar with this type of art, I was very confused and found it difficult to grasp an understanding of my surroundings, even more so as I did not expect to find this type of art in Tate Britain. 

Overall, I enjoyed looking at how Turner had different effects on viewers through his art. It was a very peaceful experience to walk through Tate Britain as you can go in your own pace and explore without being guided in only one direction. The simple yet elegant interior design lets you focus more on each art piece and whether you decide to go alone or with others, I feel that yo would have a great experience seeing both traditional and non-traditional pieces. I would love to go again for more surprises like 'Echoes'.