Most art critics of his time, expect Ruskin, called Turner's painting the works of the Devil. Not for their darkness and sobriety, but for their sensuousness in color, light and texture, and for their apparent elusiveness and lack of finish. In their view, a painting had to be a completed drawing with sombre, even moralistic themes. But Turner's paintings are much more elemental than what his critics could imagine. His celestial and ephemeral inclinations (the colourful sensuousness that were undermined) are not biased towards the Devil's bright lures, but are contrasts to the heavy and important subjects of Good verses Evil, Light versus Dark. In fact these were the oppositions which he studied throughout his paintings.
Turner’s gentle pastel colored canvasses do not shy away from these contrasts. In "Sun Setting over Lake", the blue of the sky (intermingled with the white and pale mauve clouds) provides a close to perfect diagonal mirror image to its opposite orangish-yellows. The center of each, with the tiny dot of a sun and its halo on one side and the small swirl of clouds on the other, equidistant from each other, once again suggesting a relationship of opposites. The pale blue seems to be softly pulling us farther and deeper into some unknown realm, whereas the bright firey yellows are inviting us to plunge in. Could it be a commentary on Heaven and Hell?
His contrasts are bolder in "The Burning of the House of Lords and Commons". The blue is deeper and darker, and the yellow contrast is much clearer. His white (the bridge in this case) is now contrasted with darker elements on the opposite sides of the canvass - both in the sky and in the crowd. Once again, there is a dividing diagonal, dramatic sweep across the painting. And we are left with the eerily white architecture. It is not clear whether the fury of the flames will destroy it, or some saving Grace in the form of rain or wind from the skies might save it still.
“The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella Steps of the Europa” from his Venice paintings is like a silk embroidery of buildings glistening in a hazy, light pink sky. But the contrasts, true to their polar opposite whites, have to be dark; and they are. The deep brown patches of barges and people seem to ground us back to the earthly ports (or at least onto the secure boats) away from the ethereal castles and silvery water-skyscape. There is even a tiny dark dog, giving us the details of the mundane. These dark areas remind us how beautiful and unreachable are these airy wonderlands. But Turner has been there, or at least has felt their presence, so there is hope yet for the rest of us.
A tiny statue of Napoleon is surrounded by a pool of swirling reds and yellows in “War: The Exile and the Rock Limpet” (Red, yellow, blue, light and dark being the most important hues and values of Turner's work). The bluish mauve in the sky provides that hopeful glint beyond the carnage of the red, but it is also a technical contrast to the abundant golden yellows. Napoleon’s greatness off-centered and giving space to the even greater sun is further diminished by the shadow of a single soldier. Napoleon is also closer to the pool of yellow, and soon to be engulfed into this burning gold, as is already his reflection. The heavens, in contrasting blues and mauves are beyond his reach, radiating farther upwards as he sinks slowly below. Napoleon has entered a hostile terrain, where he has only himself and his loyal shadow to contend with.
In "Shade and Darkness and "Light and Color", Turner painted two panels of what seem to be a before and after sequence. Rather than use color as the contrasting elements, his focus this time is strongly on dark and light. It is also toward the end of Turner's life (he is to die in 1851 and he was already an elderly 68 at this point) and he must be concerned with such opposing forces. It has been suggested that his spiral paintings resemble ceiling frescoes, adding a further touch into the mysteries of the heavens where the viewer is forced to look up. But besides this technical and historical prop, the swirls add to the emotional and dramatic urgencies of these paintings.
In "Light and Color", the darkened populace is swooped around and off the edges of the painting, out of the canvass. The light also seems to be a centrifugal force, gaining strength from the right, and pushing the darkness and all its elements off the canvass. We would expect the scene to eventually project nothing but pure light.
Moses sits in the middle - or close to the middle of the bright halo in "Light and Color". Yet what is at the dead center is the snake. What are we to make of this except to wonder at Turner's insecurities about his final destination. Further, Turner's main character in this painting comes from the Book of Exodus where: Exodus 20:21-22 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven'.
It seems that Turner is placing Moses in the earthly, ungodly, bright turmoil, which is also home to the serpent, exactly as his contemporary critics must have viewed the world. It is the dark sombre core where God is housed. With all these ambiguities, one hopes that Turner finally reconciled his Light and Dark/Good and Evil meditations which seemed to have taken on an urgency, and perhaps an uncertainty, toward the end of his life.
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Article inspired by the Exhibition: Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada.
Reference:
Colour in Turner : poetry and truth. By John Gage. London : Studio Vista, 1969