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Norham Castle, Sunrise
J. M. W. Turner · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)
- Date
- c. 1845
- Dimensions
- 90.8 x 121.9 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom
Norham Castle, Sunrise shows the ruins of a medieval castle on the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland, dissolving into a haze of golden and pale blue light at dawn. A cow stands in the river, its reflection blending into the shimmering water.
A closer look
The castle is no more than a soft blue shape, the sun a glow of yellow, and the riverbank a few strokes of thin colour. Turner had drawn and painted Norham many times since his first visit in 1797, and late in life he returned to it in a series of unfinished canvases based on his own earlier print. Here form is almost completely dissolved into light and atmosphere. The work was never exhibited in Turner's lifetime, and its radical freedom made later viewers see him as a forerunner of Impressionism and even of abstract art.
More by J. M. W. Turner
In this gallery
Landscape with a Rainbow
The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up
Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth
Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway
The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying)