Joseph. M. W. Turner was an English Romantic painter known for his landscape painting, and his works were frequently inspired by his travels around Europe. Turner documented grand visuals of the natural world with bright, vivid colors. One of his best-known works is the painting Procession Of Boats With Distant Smoke, Venice – painted in around 1845. The painting is about a procession of boats mounting smoke and sailboats near Venice on the Mediterranean Sea at sunset, and it caught the imagination of viewers with its great expressionism style.
The work also showed peace and labor reaching a dull truce as the sun begins to set after a day’s hard labor; reminding viewers that life should not be taken for granted no matter how menial they may be – something Turner was known to explore in much of his work. His work “Peace – Burial At Sea” from 1842 shows similar scenes of a peaceful atmosphere at sunset with boats parading across calm waters as they solemnly mark a burial ceremony in the background. In both paintings, Turner masterfully captured the tranquillity and beauty of nature while reminding us of its wrath at times too through vivid sunsets or rough beaches.
