Joseph Mallord William Turner – The Shipwreck Tate Britain (London)

Description of William Turner’s painting Shipwreck

The worst deaths are on the water and in the air. Neither above nor below will anyone or anything save you. The only thing is that in the air you will die instantly, in the water you will still suffer for a while. But if in the sky, trouble can happen purely because of the human factor, but in the sea, nature itself can become the master of destinies. And that’s how lucky you are and a lot depends on whether to live or not to live: on the captain, on the neighbors-passengers, on the fleetingness of the storm.

Turner, of course, is no Aivazovsky and he could hardly depict the sea as beautifully as our Russian marinist does... But he was able to convey tragedy, to convey the taste of death. Pay attention that almost all the canvas is black, both sea and sky. But the central part is slightly highlighted and we can see that somewhere in the depth of the canvas is almost sinking a big ship, and in the foreground are fighting for their lives those who managed to get on a boat and two more boats come to their aid. But they too risk being sunk. Some people are in the water and the dinghy is trying to pull them out of the water.

But the upper skiff hangs threateningly over the dinghy, and it is likely that the wave will drop it on the unfortunates, and then all who were on the two boats will die. The second skiff is trying to sail away, and it seems to be succeeding. But how creepy it must be to watch someone nearby die and not be able to help. It’s scary. And the black waves are raging all around, ready to swoop down on these boats and take new victims for the water god Poseidon.

But the artist still gives some hope to the shipwrecked. Somewhere in the distance a bright streak of light can be seen in the sky, and this means that the bad weather will soon pass, the sea will calm down and one can breathe more freely. But it will not be so soon, and people will have time to die after all. This is scary and frustrating, because it is just a little bit before the clarity.