J.M.W. Turner

Visual Arts British 1775 – 1851 98 quotes

A Romantic landscape painter, he is known as 'the painter of light' for his expressive use of color and atmospheric effects, anticipating Impressionism.

Quotes by J.M.W. Turner

My business is to paint what I see, not what I know.

Reported by John Ruskin 1844

Light is therefore colour.

Lectures on Perspective 1818

The sun is God.

Last words, reported by his housekeeper 1851

Indistinctness is my fault.

Reported by John Ruskin 1840

I did not paint it to be understood, but to be seen.

Regarding 'Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth' 1843

Nature is a rum 'un.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

My pictures are my children.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

I never lose sight of nature.

Reported by a contemporary 1830

The noblest works of art are those that represent the noblest objects.

Lectures on Perspective 1811

My object is not to copy nature, but to give the impression of nature.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

The true artist must be a poet.

Lectures on Perspective 1811

I have no time for anything but painting.

Reported by a contemporary 1845

The artist's eye is his best master.

Lectures on Perspective 1811

Colour is the soul of painting.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

I am not a copyist, but an interpreter.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

The more you look at a picture, the more you see in it.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

Art is a language, and the artist is its interpreter.

Lectures on Perspective 1811

The grandest scenes are those which combine the sublime with the beautiful.

Lectures on Perspective 1811

I paint what I feel, not what I see.

Reported by a contemporary 1840

The artist should always strive for originality.

Lectures on Perspective 1811