The Passing of J.M.W Turner & His Last Words + Mike Leigh & Timothy Spall

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    JMW Turner’s 1817 watercolour Landscape: Composition of Tivoli

  • J.M.W Turner 1coTurner_selfportrait
    On Dec 19 1851 Turner passed away.

    Turner died in the house of his lover Sophia Caroline Booth in Cheyne Walk in Chelsea on 19 December 1851, and is said to have uttered the last words “The sun is God”.

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    “Turner has always been a key figure for me,” he says. “When you look at a Turner painting, you can sort of drift into it – and that drifting allows the painting to hold you. It takes time – it’s not an instant, it’s not a selfie, but something that has a process within it. And that’s interesting. Turner made something so abstract that he must have trusted the people who looked at the painting to finish the story off. I think this trust is amazing.” Olaf – Elliasson