Part 1
Seas, Storms and Shipwrecks
Sea, storm, ships and shipwreck: Turner presents nature as beauty, danger and overwhelming movement.
Watch the film on YouTube →KleinTones · Five-part 4K art-film series
J. M. W. Turner
Light, Sea, Mountains and the Modern World
Five thematic films devoted to one of the most radical painters of light, weather and movement.
Painting on the threshold of modernity
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) transformed landscape painting into an experiment with light, colour, atmosphere and movement. Sea and storm, fire and steam, cities in mist and mountains in changing light often seem to dissolve into perception itself.
The five films approach different sides of this work. Slow camera movement enters selected details before returning to the complete composition; my music is not intended merely as background, but as a second temporal space in which the paintings can unfold.
A life between observation and experiment
Turner was born in London in 1775 and entered the Royal Academy Schools at only fourteen. He was already exhibiting watercolours as a teenager. Over the following decades, the exceptionally precise draughtsman and topographical observer developed into an artist who continually pushed landscape painting beyond its established boundaries.
Travel was essential to his art. Turner explored Britain extensively and repeatedly travelled through France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Venice, the Alps and the sea became especially important sources of imagery, recorded in countless sketches and later transformed in the studio.
How Turner painted
Turner was equally accomplished in watercolour and oil. Transparent washes, glazing, wiping, scraping and strong accents allowed him to make light almost the true subject of a painting rather than simply something represented within it. In his later works, solid forms often begin to dissolve into rain, steam, spray, fire or sunlight.
Influence and legacy
This increasingly free treatment of colour and atmosphere made Turner a key figure on the road towards modern painting. Later artists and critics regarded him as an important precursor of Impressionism, while some late works can appear strikingly close to abstraction to modern eyes. At the same time, Turner remained deeply connected to the traditions of landscape and history painting.
The film series
Five journeys through Turner’s world
All five parts have now been published. The order below is the order of the completed series.
Part 2
Fire, Steam and the Modern World
Fire, steam and speed lead into Turner’s vision of industrialisation and the emerging modern world.
Watch the film on YouTube →
Part 3
Venice, Rome and Zurich in Light and Mist
Venice, Rome and Zurich appear as cities of light, water, memory and atmospheric mist.
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Part 4
Mountains, Castles and Stonehenge
Mountains, castles and Stonehenge bring geology, history and architecture together with Turner’s sense of the sublime.
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Part 5
J. M. W. Turner: The Dissolution of Light | Lakes, Waterfalls and Ruins in 4K
Lakes, waterfalls and ruins dissolve into light and atmosphere. The final film shows especially clearly Turner’s increasingly free treatment of colour, light and form.
Watch the film on YouTube →Another Turner film
This film featuring a Turner painting was created independently and is deliberately not part of the five-part series.
Where the Dawn Begins
Sunrise, light and quiet visual spaces with music for oboe and piano.
A completed series
Together, the five films move from sea and elemental forces through the industrial modern world and European cities to mountains, architecture and Turner’s increasingly free treatment of light and colour.