JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape

Walton Bridges by Joseph Mallord William Turner

Opening times, admission and location

Opening times

Visit this exhibition during our normal opening hours, 19 October 2024 - 23 February 2025

Admission prices

This exhibition is included with the general admission price

Where we are

Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Castle Hill, Norwich, NR1 3JU

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About JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape

Image credit: Govinda Sah 'Azad', 'Here/ Everywhere', 2023, Oil and acrylic on canvas. © Govinda Sah courtesy of the artist and October Gallery, London.

JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape is a major new exhibition exploring artists' approaches to landscape from the 17th century to the present day. It commences the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the birth of JMW Turner, one of the most influential artists in the history of western art.

Image credit: Emma Stibbon, 'Ice Cloud', 2019, Intaglio print with hand colouring. © Emma Stibbon courtesy of Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge.

The exhibition explores the evolution of landscape art, centring on Turner's influence, whose landscapes conveyed a full range of artistic, historical and emotional meanings. Featuring seven oil paintings and nine works on paper by Turner, it compares his visionary approach with those who influenced him, like Claude Lorrain, Ruisdael and Canaletto, and those he inspired, from John Sell Cotman to Govinda Sah. Renowned twentieth-century artists like Paul Nash and contemporary figures such as Ibrahim Mahama, Emma Stibbon, and Henna Nadeem demonstrate the ongoing relevance of landscape in art.

JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape will bring together, for the first time ever, four of his paintings of the Bridges at Walton - from Norwich Castle, Tate, and a private collection. Painted between 1805-1840s, each painting gives a completely different character to this one location, offering a glimpse into his evolving style.

Using Turner's multi-faceted vision as a starting point, this exhibition journeys through landscapes real, imagined, dramatic, comforting, nightmarish, fragile and beautiful. Featuring works by some of the most celebrated British landscape artists alongside exciting contemporary works, JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape reveals the breadth and complexity of human concerns surrounding landscape, and our changing attitudes to the natural world.

The exhibition is generously supported by the Norfolk Museums Service, East Anglia Art Fund, WSP, Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and Norfolk County Council.

Banner image: 'Panoramic Landscape with Cornfields and Dunes Beside the Sea' by Jacob van Ruisdael, c1660s, Oil on canvas © NMS, 'Walton Bridges', by Joseph Mallord William Turner, c.1806, courtesy © NMS, and 'Void of War' by Paul Nash, 1918, Lithograph on paper, © NMS.