Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth
J. M. W. Turner · 1842
Why it's great
A steamship pitches in a whirlwind of snow, wind and waves, with only a few lines to show the ship. Turner said he had himself lashed to the mast of a ship for four hours in a storm to see it for real. Critics called it 'soapsuds and whitewash.' It's among his most dramatic seascapes.
Where to see it
📍 Museum of Fine Arts BostonBoston, United States
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J. M. W. Turner was born in London, the son of a barber, and became a student at the Royal Academy at just 14. He traveled across Britain and Europe, painting storms, ships, and sunsets in swirling light and color. He called the sky his subject, and his late paintings are almost abstract. He left thousands of works to the British nation when he died in London in 1851.
