Exploring Turner's elements

We head to the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Kent for the opening of its 2012 exhibition Turner and the Elements, which explores the depiction of wind, water, air and fire in romantic landscape painter JMW Turner’s works.

The exhibition brings together 88 works, many from the Tate collection. Nearly two centuries since his visits to Margate, see first-hand how his dynamic concept of landscape, unconventional use of colour and near abstract watercolours and paintings secured his place as the artist of the elements and the founder of modern landscape painting.

Works on display include Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth exhibited 1842 and The New Moon; or ‘I’ve lost My Boat, You shan’t have Your Hoop’ exhibited 1840. Turner’s frequent visits to Margate and the Kent coast are vividly portrayed, with particular works chosen especially for the exhibition’s time at Turner Contemporary.

The only opportunity to see this selection of works by Turner together

Turner’s legacy in the town was the founding inspiration for the gallery. He loved Margate for the sea, the skies, and his landlady Mrs Booth. He first came to the seaside town aged 11, having been sent by his parents to school in Love Lane in Margate Old Town. He returned to sketch there aged 21 and from the 1820s onwards became a regular visitor, with more than 100 of his works being inspired by the East Kent coast.

Turner’s innovative painting technique and the influence of scientific and technological developments during his lifetime were to revolutionise landscape painting.

The seafront gallery and Margate’s Old Town is at the heart of an emerging creative quarter, with a growing number of art workspaces, residential studios, and independent shops, as well as a lively café and restaurant scene. The gallery, built on the sit of Turner’s famously favourite guest house, formed a significant part of Margate’s regeneration plan, and we also explore the effect the gallery is having on tourism and local businesses in the traditional seaside town.