J.M.W. Turner in Washington, D.C.

Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight/Turner, 1835 — The National Gallery of Art

I made it down to Washington a few weeks ago to catch an early look at the phenomenal Turner show that has since opened at the National Gallery of Art. I'm still rubbing my eyes. It's very large, the largest Turner exhibition to be seen in the U.S. in over 40 years. And it's absolutely smashing. It was a famously fascinating career arc. To his contemporaries, or at least some of them, it seemed that as he got older his powers decayed, even to the point of madness. To us, now, it seems as though that's when his powers were unleashed.

Here's a link to my review in the new issue of Time. Later I'll add a link at this post to a slideshow we'll be mounting on Friday with 15 of Turner's paintings.

UPDATE: Here's that slideshow.