“Fishermen at Sea”
This dark and wonderful moonlight painting is an oil on canvas from 1796 made by the English Romantic artist, J. M. W. Turner. It is titled “Fishermen at Sea”.
This moonlit scene is a perfect example of the sublime, in which the power of nature and the vulnerability of humanity is highlighted through the fishermen and their journey. During this period, moonlight paintings were quite fashionable, and Turner became known for this.
In this piece, Turner is depicting ‘The Needles’, the jagged chalk rock formations off the western tip of the Isle of Wight, which are still a tourist draw today. This is the first of many ship scenes that Turner would paint in his lifetime, as marine themes with rough seas were a particular specialty of his. This is the first painting that Turner exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art, and it earned him critical praise and esteem for not just maritime art, but as an artist.
“Fishermen at Sea” is currently on display at the Tate Gallery in London, England.
For more on J. M. W. Turner, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
