J. M. W. Turner: Painting Analysis

The romantic period was all about the experience. People in general were tired of the old ways of government, art, and many other occurrences. There were rebellions, wars, huge changes in society and many more. Therefore, there were especially dramatic changes in art. Artist began to stray away from classical method and instead started to experiment more with new mediums, methods, and subject matter. The Romantic period was described as an intense experience because the work was done to impose a feeling or message on the viewer, by using a high amount of imagination and often rebellion towards classical approaches to art. Painter J.M.W. Turner is a prime example of this intense experience presented in romantic era. In his painting titled …show more content…
The shackles still connected, fish caused turbulence around the hands in the lower right corner. A big fish was approaching in the lower left corner as well. The ship, slaves, and fish were painted in somewhat detail, yet the sky and water was painted in a nebulous fashion. The sky was white, the horizon was red, and the water as black. The white depicted the purity of their homeland, the red horizon represented pain and suffering, and the black water represented death. The combination of these attributes put together bring the painting to a whole ride the viewer can go on. This dark feeling can be brought about just by glancing at the painting, but the intense experience can be viewed when the onlooker observes it …show more content…
In his painting, The Oxbow, he presented the view from Mount Holyoke in Northampton, Massachusetts. This area was known as a hotspot for tourists for its time. (Fiero 20) He used a highly detailed painting to show a dark storm rolling in from the left. With blue skies on the right, this left to right position would subtlety have viewers presume the storm will hit the clear area on the right. Right to left movements in design typically mean that it is pertaining to the future or something positive. In this case, the storm would possibly bring destruction. This is because the forest in the foreground of the painting is covered in broken trees, scattered along the ground. This could be destruction from tourist visiting the area, who destroy trees and care little for nature, or perhaps it means the world as a whole is on a path to destroying nature. However, it could just be a nice landscape painting. Cole’s piece, nevertheless, is able to capture the eyes of viewer and tell a story as if one is standing in the