Free Display

JMW Turner

See the world’s largest free display of paintings by JMW Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Norham Castle, Sunrise c.1845. Tate.

Tate Britain is home to the largest collection of works by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851).

Described as the ‘father of modern art,’ Turner shocked with his unique brushwork and use of colour. His portrayals of the modern world were unlike any seen before. As one of the country’s greatest painters, he fittingly lends his name to the contemporary Turner Prize.

See Turner’s art free in these galleries.

Tate Britain
Main Floor Clore Gallery

Getting Here

Ongoing

Free

9 rooms in JMW Turner

JMW Turner: Rise to Fame

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) was the star of his generation of artists. His bold paintings challenged convention and still inspire artists today

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Self-Portrait c.1799. Tate.

Toil and Terror at Sea

Turner was fascinated by the darker side to life at sea. He painted storms, shipwrecks and terrifying atmospheres over and over, leaving many of them unfinished

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth exhibited 1842. Tate.

Turner and his Critics

This gallery focuses on the reactions to Turner’s paintings when they were first shown. Whether his works were praised or mocked, he never failed to steal the limelight in exhibitions

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet exhibited 1842. Tate.

Experiments on Paper

This room presents a selection of Turner’s ‘vignettes’, small watercolours made as illustrations for books

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Forum, for Rogers’s ‘Italy’ c.1826–7. Tate.

Experiments on Canvas

The paintings in this room have become celebrated examples of Turner’s boundary-pushing late style. And yet in his own lifetime they were unknown

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Sun Setting over a Lake c.1840. Tate.

Sea Power

From the everyday work of fishermen to major naval battles, Turner’s paintings of the sea reflected Britain’s identity as a maritime nation

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Shipwreck exhibited 1805. Tate.

Travels in Europe

Turner’s art revolved around travel or being ‘on the wing’, as he called it. The paintings in this room present Europe as Turner saw and imagined it

Go to room

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Venice, the Bridge of Sighs exhibited 1840. Tate.

John Constable

Today John Constable is recognised alongside JMW Turner as a great British landscape painter. While his work was just as radical as Turner’s, it took him much longer to find fame

Go to room

John Constable, Flatford Mill (‘Scene on a Navigable River’) 1816–7. Tate.

Morning after the Deluge

Two artists, born nearly two centuries apart, question our view of the natural world in a time of technological change

Go to room

We recommend

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner

1775–1851
How to Paint Like Turner

Watercolour expert Mike Chaplin tackles the language of watercolour in Turner's work through line, tone and colour