Dialogues with Turner: Evoking the Sublime, co-organized by Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) and Tate, will open to the public on October 1, 2024. The exhibition marks the latest collaboration between the two museums following the remarkable success of multiple previous projects. Meanwhile, it presents a valuable opportunity to delve into the extraordinary artistic world of Joseph Mallord William Turner, one of the greatest British painters of the 19th century.

Dialogues with Turner is the largest exhibition of oil paintings ever loaned by Tate, and it brings together Turner and contemporary artists, with MAP proudly serving as the inaugural stop in Asia. The exhibition features over 100 artworks, among which nearly 80 are original oil paintings and watercolors by Turner. Together they present a holistic picture of the artistic developments and changing painting styles during the various key periods of his career. Notably, many of these works are being exhibited in China for the first time, promising an unprecedented opportunity to appreciate the genius of Turner at close range. An immersive space at MAP also screens a custom-made Turner documentary produced by Tate exclusively for this exhibition, allowing visitors to journey alongside Turner and experience the landscapes that inspired him. 

In the meantime, alongside Turner’s masterpieces, the exhibition cleverly intersperses works by more than ten renowned contemporary artists, including Katie Paterson, Richard Long, Olafur Eliasson, Roni Horn, Peter Doig and Wolfgang Tillmans. Some of these contemporary works are transported from London to Shanghai specifically for the exhibition. Collectively, they provide 21st century interpretations of the 18th century idea of ‘sublime’. This creates the first exhibition in Asia that brings Turner into dialogue with the artists who were influenced by him, providing a compelling curatorial narrative that spans centuries and captivates a wide audience.

Known as ‘the painter of light’, Turner’s paintings are renowned for ‘indistinctness’ and ‘vaporous visions’, characterized by an expressive use of color, mastery of light, and an extraordinary dynamism that seems to border on abstraction. As one of Britain’s most admired and influential artists, Turner bequeathed much of his work to the British nation. This bequest now resides at Tate, constituting a prominent part of Tate collection. Moreover, Tate awards their annual contemporary art prize in the artist’s name. The Turner Prize is recognized as the most prestigious award for visual arts in Britain. In 2020, Turner was voted to be the first artist to be featured on British banknotes, chosen from hundreds of nominated historical figures through a nationwide vote and decision by the Bank of England Committee.

Dialogues with Turner: Evoking the Sublime will run until May 10, 2025. The exhibition is produced by Shanghai Lujiazui Development (Group) Company Limited and jointly organized by Museum of Art Pudong and Tate. Elizabeth Brooke, Tate’s Senior Project Curator for International Partnerships, serves as the curator for this exhibition.

In addition, El Anatsui: After the Red Moon, the largest installation exhibition at MAP since its inauguration, will be open to the public around the same period. Ghanaian artist El Anatsui manages to imbue new verve and dynamism into Hall X and the entrance lobby of MAP with his cascading mental hangings. A great chance for MAP visitors to embrace uniquely diversified artistic experiences at one time.

Delving into the Sublime: Turner’s Artistic Journey and the Poetry of Light

As the ‘sublime’ was a conceptual thread that ran throughout the Turner’s oeuvre, Dialogues with Turner: Evoking the Sublime delves into how Turner interpreted this aesthetic and philosophical concept in his practice, considering how contemporary artists engage with the sublime today.

The exhibition is divided into eight thematic sections and spans the first and third floors, offering a panoramic view of Turner’s artistic career, closely intertwining his travels with the subjects of his creations. From early British landscapes to the dramatic scenery of the Swiss Alps, and on to the poetic depictions of Venice – the ‘City of Sublime’ the exhibition reveals the evolution of Turner’s artistic style and his unique understanding of light and atmosphere.

Prelude: A Darkened Room demonstrates Turner’s interest in playing with the contrast between light and dark. It was said that before showing his works, Turner would ask his guests to wait briefly in a darkened room to purge the mind of preceding impressions, enhancing their perception of light and color in his paintings. The ceremony reflected his fondness for a sense of spectacle. A key piece in this section, Moonlight, a Study at Millbank, captures the moonlit night of August 19, 1796, in London. Turner expertly contrasts the milky glow of the moonlight with the inky blues, grays, and browns of the night sky, delicately portraying the subtle interplay between light and shadow. In this painting, Jupiter shines above the moon, continuing the tradition of 18th century landscape painting while showcasing Turner’s pursuit of naturalism.

Beginning in the British Landscape focuses on Turner’s early explorations of Britain’s diverse natural landscapes, which first established his artistic reputation. Turner made countless sketches during his travels, and upon returning to the studio, transformed these studies into spectacular paintings a hybrid of his in-situ sketches, memory, and imagination. Three representative works in this section, Morning amongst the Coniston Fells, Cumberland, View in Wales: Mountain Scene with Village and Castle – Evening, and Landscape Composition with a Ruined Castle on a Cliff, all demonstrate Turner’s keen observation of the changing light effects, giving viewers an insight into how Turner transformed his travel experiences into the artistic expression of the sublime power of nature.

Into the Mountains expands the viewer’s gaze to the broader European continent, to explore Turner’s fascination with the dramatic scenery of the Alps. The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons is a standout work from this period. Though there is no evidence that he actually witnessed an avalanche, he managed to vividly reproduce this devastating. The bold choices of colors and the technique to blend colors with his fingers imbued the work with an unprecedented sense of energy, unfolding the shockingly overwhelming power of nature.

Historical Sublime highlights Turner’s efforts to push the boundaries of traditional history painting. Although history painting was considered the pinnacle of High Art during his time, Turner broke away from the constraints of classical style, using pioneering techniques to reinterpret classical scenes. Works such as Apollo and Python and Story of Apollo and Daphne aroused widespread resonance back then and the power lingers till this day.

Venice: City of Sublime reflects Turner’s true echo of his own sensibility in Venice. Among the many artists who depicted the city, Turner’s works are distinguished by their enchanting use of light and color. His images of Venice were quickly recognized by their first viewers as some of his most magical and luminous works. Works including Bridge of Sighs, Ducal Palace and Custom-House, Venice: Canaletti Painting and The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Lit by a Rocket, across the Grand Canal from the Hotel Europa (Palazzo Giustinian) at Night, convey his meditations on light, color and the reflective surfaces of water and stone imbuing the floating city with a sense of eternal vitality and sentimental poetry.

Storm at Sea focuses on Turner’s depictions of the ocean, a subject that accounts for more than half of his work and includes paintings of whaling ships, fishing boats, shipwrecks, and battles. Turner’s seascapes evoke both the danger and uncontrollable force of the sea, as well as the powerlessness of humankind in the face of nature. Hurrah! for the Whaler Erebus! Another Fish!, the main visual for the exhibition’s poster, vividly captures the intense struggle between whalers and a giant whale, symbolizing Turner’s exploration of the concept of the ‘sublime’. The complex cultural relationships between man and ocean delineated by Turner are still highly pertinent in today’s global context, demonstrating his enduring relevance and modernity.

Sea and Sky further explores the poetic and metaphorical connections between the sky and sea. In Seascape with Buoy, Turner abandoned the traditional composition of seascape paintings, drawing viewers’ attention instead to the turbulent water’s surface, creating a deeply meditative atmosphere.

The final section of the exhibition, Late Turner: Elemental Sublime, places a focus on the late years of this great artist. Despite facing health challenge and criticism from his peers, Turner’s late career was a period of intense and bountiful creativity. He produced many of his most-well known paintings and made exceptional developments in his radical techniques and use of materials. Works such as Stormy Sea with Dolphins and Landscape with Water could be deemed as purely elemental depictions of light and atmosphere. These abstracted pieces, which include very few figurative or topographic elements, left a strong impression on abstract artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, foreshadowing the development of modern painting.

Echoes from Contemporary Artists: Inheritance and Innovation of the “Sublime”

Dialogues with Turner: Evoking the Sublime not only exemplifies Turner’s revolutionary style - gestural and impassioned, but also places an emphasis on the enduring influence of ‘sublime’ as an aesthetic concept. Works by leading contemporary artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Mark Rothko, Katie Paterson and Richard Long are interspersed alongside Turner’s masterpieces, offering alternative perspectives for viewers to appreciate Turner’s art as well as his courage and vision to constantly seek for innovative expressions to respond to the changing times. This brand-new curatorial perspective allows the audience to gain insights into the legacy and dialogues between contemporary and classical art while embracing the lingering charm of Turner’s art.

Katie Paterson, the first artist-in-residence at University College London (UCL) Physics and Astronomy, contributes her work Totality, a highlight in the prelude section. The piece features a mirror ball covered with images of nearly every solar eclipse documented by humankind. The mirror ball creates its own spectacle as it transfers the images across the room in a rotating glimmer of moments that blur the line between night and day, light and dark, immersing viewers in a whirling constellation of tiny illuminated eclipses. The dialogue between Paterson and Turner spans the universe as they both show a deep interest in solar eclipse. Turner himself experienced and studied the phenomenon, as evidenced by his 1804 Eclipse Sketchbook. By exploring the natural wonders and the intersection of art and science, the two artists invite audience to reconsider our place on Earth in relation to deep geological time.

Richard Long, a central figure of British Land Art movement, has been nominated for the Turner Prize four times and won it in 1989. His sculptural approach is based on the principle of in situ interventions in natural and cultural environments, extending the boundaries of sculpture. In the first section, the two artists take British landscape as a point of departure and embark on similar paths of natural exploration. However, their artists pursuits vary significantly. Turner contemplated on nature through romantic landscape, while Long explores the relationship between man and nature through minimalist and direct interaction with the landscape. Despite Turner’s travel limitations due to the technical conditions of his time, his works still convey his grand vision and ambition, offering a unique contrast to Long’s immersive experience with the natural environment.

Olafur Eliasson, a prominent contemporary artist known for his grand installations, has garnered international recognition for creating multisensory experiences. Your Double-Lighthouse Projection, a definite highlight of the exhibition which costs over 1 million CNY for transportation, comprises two large, free-standing, circular chambers: one bathed in shifting hues of colored light, the other illuminated with white light. Enticed by its colorful glow, viewers enter into the first space where their field of vision is flooded by a program of slowly changing light. The adjacent, colorless room, on the other hand, provides an opportunity for viewers to refresh their visual faculties. This highly subjective experience with an emphasis on individual perception echoes Turner’s exploration of light and color in the 19th century. Turner created a kind of dizzying visual impact through landscape painting, while Eliasson manages to arouse similar sensations by playing with contemporary light installation. The dialogue between them spans time and space, exploring how the power of light evokes the sublime feelings embedded in viewers’ inner mind. 

German artist and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has been constantly pushing the boundaries and definitions of the photographic form since 1990s. His work State We’re In, A captures the expanse of the Atlantic through full-format digital camera, investigating the notion of sea as a natural boundary to both separate and connect. The fact that Tillmans attempts to guide viewers to reflect upon today’s political patterns through this work is quite similar to Turner’s approach to arouse awareness of some of the contentious subjects of his day, including slavery and the whaling industry, through seascape painting. Despite the different times they live in, both artists choose to inspire audience to think about human conditions through natural landscape, showing the inheritance of art in different historical contexts.

The bold style of Turner’s late career exerts a profound influence on abstract artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly on Mark Rothko. As a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism and a pioneer of color field painting, Rothko used simple compositions and large areas of saturated color to convey intense emotion. American art critic Robert Rosenblum drew a comparison between Turner’s The Evening Star and Rothko’s paintings, noting that both artists explored the sublime and emotional resonance through horizontal fields of color, establishing an artistic dialogue that transcends time.

Other contemporary artists featured in the exhibition include Sir Howard Hodgkin, Cornelia Parker, Jessica Warboys and John Akomfrah. As the largest Turner-themed exhibition organized by Tate and the first exhibition in Asia that brings Turner into dialogue with leading contemporary artists, the exhibition cast a vivid light on the profoundly lingering influence of Turner and the diversified contemporary reinterpretations of the 18th-century aesthetic and philosophical concept of ‘sublime’.

Art with No Boundary: Artistic Resonance Choreographed by Tate and MAP

Dialogues with Turner: Evoking the Sublime is not merely a tribute to Turner, one of the most admired and influential artists of the 19th century, but also a powerful manifestation of the artistic resonance between MAP and Tate. Through the dialogues spanning several centuries, the juxtaposition of the masterpieces of Turner and those of contemporary artists provides reinterpretations the aesthetic concept of ‘sublime’ at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures. The exhibition marks a new milestone in the collaborations of the two museums, demonstrating the tight connections between history and modernity, tradition and innovation from the perspective of art. From the poetic use of light and shadow in Turner’s work to the multidimensional interpretations of the ‘sublime’ by contemporary artists, the exhibition invites the audience to reflect and engage with art’s universal and timeless nature, transcending all boundaries.

During the exhibition, MAP will host a specially-curated series of art education and public engagement programs, including workshops, guided tours, and academic lectures. As part of the museum’s ongoing commitment to art education and public involvement, these activities aim not only to deepen the public’s understanding of the exhibition but also to actively promote the dissemination and accessibility of art in society. This reflects MAP’s social responsibility and mission as a public cultural institution. Visitors will not only experience the sublime beauty of Turner’s works but also gain insights into modern art’s diverse perspectives through the innovative expressions of contemporary artists.

Tate is renowned worldwide for its collection of British art from the 16th century to the present day, and it continues to expand its holdings of international modern and contemporary art, reflecting a grand vision of art that transcends national boundaries. As one of the UK’s national museums, Tate operates four galleries across the country. Through its branch museums, digital platforms, and global partnerships, Tate is dedicated to promoting artistic exchange and fostering cultural inclusion. This exhibition marks yet another important collaboration between MAP and Tate, further consolidating their pioneering roles in international cultural exchange. Visitors are cordially invited to MAP to witness the debut of Turner’s exhibition in Asia and to indulge in artistic charisma that transcends time and space.

About Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in 1775 in Covent Garden, London, and is widely regarded as the first modern painter. He began his formal training at the Royal Academy at just 14 and became a full Academician at the age of 26. His exceptional legacy is rooted in his expressive style and bold use of color, with the capturing of atmosphere being central to his oeuvre. Turner traveled extensively throughout Western Europe, capturing his surroundings at different times of day and in all kinds of weather. He often chose to draw and paint “en plein air” before completing his larger-scale oil paintings in his studio. Over the course of his career, Turner was at the center of artistic life in Britain and continued to paint and sketch prolifically until his death in 1851. Turner bequeathed much of his work to the British nation, and these works now reside at Tate. Moreover, Tate has awarded the annual contemporary art prize in the artist’s name. The Turner Prize is recognized as the most prestigious award for visual arts in Britain.

As a pioneer of Romanticism, Turner used his extraordinary technique to capture the majesty and grandeur of nature, challenging the boundaries of human perception. Each of his paintings is a symphony of light and color, touching the viewer’s soul and igniting boundless imagination. From the towering peaks of the Alps to the winding canals of Venice, Turner’s canvases chronicle the eternal dialogue between humanity and the elements.

About MAP

Located at the heart of Xiao Lujiazui, Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) broke ground on September 26, 2017 and opened to the public in July, 2021.

Invested, built, and managed by the Lujiazui Group and designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel (AJN), MAP is primarily set out to present world-class exhibitions to its audience as well as showcasing domestic artists. The four major functions of MAP include: to hold exhibitions, to promote art education, to develop cultural merchandises, and to advocate for international exchange. MAP aims to become a new cultural landmark of Shanghai and an important platform for international cultural exchange.

About TATE

Tate is one of the United Kingdom’s national museums, and holds the national collections of British art from the 16th century and of modern and contemporary art from across the world. Tate has four galleries across the country: Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives, Tate Britain, and Tate Modern. The largest, Tate Modern, opened in 2000 in a former power station beside the River Thames in central London; it is the most visited museum of modern and contemporary art in the world.

Joseph Mallord William Turner bequeathed to the British nation a large number of his paintings, which have become the core collection of Tate, making Tate the home to the largest collection of works by Turner.