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The National Gallery of Ireland’s popular annual exhibition of watercolours by J.M.W. Turner opens today and continues for the month of January. This year, Turner’s work will feature alongside coastal scenes by an array of British and Irish artists from the collection. Turner and Coastal Scenes reflects his lifelong passion for the sea. The artist revelled in capturing its ever-changing character, along with the activities of those whose livelihoods depended on it. His watercolours in the Vaughan Bequest at the National Gallery of Ireland range from tranquil beach and harbour scenes to depictions of storm-tossed seas and shipwrecks. Coastal locations include Dover, Hastings, Folkestone, Clovelly, Plymouth, as well as Ostend and Venice, famously known as the jewel of the Adriatic.

This year, the Gallery’s annual display of the Vaughan Bequest of Turner watercolours is complemented by a selection of eighteenth and nineteenth-century coastal scenes by British and Irish artists. Like Turner, these artists drew inspiration from the rugged coastlines and bustling fishing communities that they encountered at first hand. Well-known locations including the Baily Lighthouse in Howth, Dún Aonghasa on the Aran Islands, and the Giant’s Causeway in County Antrim are depicted. Significant artists who feature in this display include David Cox the Elder, Andrew Nicholl, George Petrie and Frederic William Burton.

THE 121st annual Turner exhibition which opens on New Year’s Day today at the National Gallery of Ireland wlll be the most exciting yet. It coincides with the magnificent exhibition Turner: The Sun is God which continues at the Gallery until February 6. Right now the National Gallery of Ireland is offering a visual feast of wonderful work by a rare master who was far ahead of his time.  Turner’s art is as contemporary today as when it was painted a couple of centuries ago. An Impressionist 50 years before Impressionism, an abstract artist when abstraction was unknown, Turner as artist and innovator was far ahead of his time. It is always instructive when assessing any art to refer back to the greatest artists by visiting galleries.  They set the benchmark. They did it right. Their work shouts it out when lesser artworks fall short.  Brutal and frustrating as this may be for artists, it is always an important learning oppprtunity. Ask Jackson Pollock, the great mid 20th century American artist who once said memorably: “F… Picasso”.

In the world of art everyone, including collectors, needs to keep their eye in. Don’t miss these shows. An appreciation of the fact that great art isn’t easy is an important first step. The Sun is God at the National Gallery is a show to be savoured slowly.  Turner draws the viewer in as he reveals his fascination with the forces of nature, the sun, moon and clouds. This glowing show traces the development of his compositions from early sketches and exploratory ‘colour beginnings’ to finished watercolours, oil paintings and published prints. It covers a range of themes including memory, imagination, nature, light and atmosphere. This unique opportunity to see 89 artworks from the Tate Collection in London never before displayed in Ireland coincides this January with the annual display of Turner watercolours bequeathed in 1900 by the English collector Henry Vaughan.  This year’s selection will include the 31 Vaughan Bequest works, and five additional Turner watercolours, alongside eight of the artist’s much-loved Liber Studiorum prints of landscape and seascape compositions recreated as prints.There is much to celebrate. Turner has always been popular in Ireland. The annual watercolour show had to be cancelled two years ago for the first time in 120 years because of the pandemic.  The show last January was the 120th instead of the 121st.  This year, uniquely, we will get to see Turner twice.

Turner in all his glory will be available to view at the National Gallery of Ireland from October 8 to February 6, 2023. Turner: The Sun is God offers visitors a rare opportunity to see 89 artworks by the English artist from the Tate Collection in London.  This once in a lifetime exhibition marks the first time these works have been displayed in Ireland where Turner is widely celebrated. The exhibition covers a range of themes including memory, imagination, nature, light and atmosphere. Visitors will be presented with a range of superb oil paintings filled with dramatic contrasts of light and dark and various weather effects.

Every year in January the National Gallery in Dublin displays a wonderful collection of watercolours by Turner bequeathed by the English collector Henry Vaughan in 1900.  This show is a popular annual fixture and a huge crowd puller.

The annual exhibition of Turner watercolours opens today at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. This year, watercolours by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) will be complemented by the works of a broad range of over 20 artists that were inspired by him. All works in this year’s display, by artists such as William Leech, Evie Hone, Paul Cézanne and John Singer Sargent, are from the Gallery’s collection, with many watercolours having not been seen in years. Some recent acquisitions by the artists Basil Blackshaw and Kyffin Williams will also be included. In 1900, the Gallery received a bequest of 31 watercolours and drawings by Turner from the English collector Henry Vaughan. Vaughan stipulated that the watercolours be exhibited every year, free of charge, for the month of January, when the light is at its weakest. Since 1901, the Gallery has displayed the watercolours for just one month every year, ensuring that the collection remains in pristine condition. Turner: The Visionary is on display until January 31.

JMW Turner (1775-1851) – The Rialto Bridge, Venice

JMW Turner (1775-1851) – The Doge’s Palace, Venice

The THE annual January exhibition of Turner watercolours runs at the National Gallery of Ireland from New Year’s Day until the 31st of the month. Turner – The Vaughan Bequest opens alongside an exhibition of prints from the artist’s Liber Studiorum series comprising landscape and seascape exhibitions.

Inspired by Claude Lorrain’s Liber Veritatis or book of truth – a series of drawings conceived as a record of his landscape paintings to prevent forgery –  Turner’s most ambitious publishing venture was the Liber Studiorum print series.  In contrst to Claude, the Liber Studiorum by Turner was a set of 71 original compositions aimed at elevating the status of landscape art.

This printing project made Turner’s work accessible to a wider audience and served as an effective advertisement for his work. In 1903, the National Gallery of Ireland was presented with a complete set of Liber Studiorum prints by the Irish-born clergyman Stopford Augustus Brooke (1832-1916).

In 1900 the National Gallery received a bequest of 31 Turner watercolours and drawings from English collector Henry Vaughan (1809-99).  In his will Vaughan divided his collection between the national galleries of London, Edinburgh and Dublin and stiplulated that the watercolours should be exhibited every year, free of charge, in January when natural light is at its most favourable for delicate watercolours.

The works arrived in September 1900 in a custom made oak cabinet which is also on display this year.  They were first exhibited in January 1901. The Gallery continues to adhere to the conditions of the bequest and the collection remains in pristine condition.

Born in 1775, Joseph Mallord William Turner began his career as a topographical artist.  The Vaughan Bequest at the National Gallery of Ireland is a representative collection of Turner’s work on paper. Highly finished works, engraved for various print series, hang side-by-side with evocative sketches from his annual tours of Switzerland and Italy.  The collection tracks Turner’s development as an artist and reveals his enthusiasm for landscape.   Illustrated are two of his Venice watercolours as a complement to the Canaletto exhibition also on now at the National Gallery.