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1842, J.M.W. Turner, Snow Storm -- Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth -- Tate Britain (London)

From the museum label: This is one of Turner's most daring paintings. In a battle between modern machine and nature, a steamboat faces a blizzard. Its black fumes join the whirling vortex of snow and sea. Turner claimed he 'got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe [the storm] ... for four hours'. Although his account can't be proven, it shows that Turner wanted us to see this dizzying scene as an authentic record. When he heard it had been ridiculed as 'soapsuds and whitewash', he responded: 'I did not paint it to be understood, but ... to show what such a scene was like.’

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Uploaded on June 15, 2025
Taken on June 15, 2025