A few hours before his death, on December 19, 1851, Joseph William Turner would have declared by looking at the sun shining on his face: "The Sun is God".
The sun occupies a preponderant place in his work, he considers it as a "joyful motive ... the most beautiful of beings".
Some criticisms interpret Turner's sun like a self -portrait!
On this theme, the Pierre Gianadda Foundation hosts for the second time an exhibition which highlights the painter's works, in collaboration with the Tate Gallery, from March 3 to June 25, 2023.
Rich in a hundred works comprising oils, watercolor gouaches as well as engravings, this exhibition takes its audience towards a spinning of light effects linked to the influence of the star that Turner has never stopped representing on his canvases!
The trips that Turner undertakes in Great Britain and Europe are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for his landscape paintings. His drawings made on the pattern are the precursors of its oils and watercolors painted in the workshop. Thus are born spectacular landscapes where the imagination disputes it in memory!
For Turner, the landscape is at least as important as the characters he represents there. If mythology holds an important place in its work, daily subjects, such as peasants, soldiers or sailors are also present ! The reproduction of natural elements underlines the action of the characters like "Bacchus and Ariane", where Turner uses the "dissolution" effect which is specific to it in this canvas divided by the diagonal of a threatening tree.
Joseph Willam Turner: The Sun si God
Rue du Forum 59
1920 Martigny (Suisse)
In his conferences of art history, Fabrice Roy combines the past in the present, in a poetic and playful evocation of the French 19th century ...
