
The Great Fall of the Reichenbach
J. M. W. Turner, 1804
What you see
The upright format follows the fall of the water. High in the center, a white cascade drops between two rock walls and dissolves into mist. Below, the water carries on as a torrent among boulders. In the right foreground, dry broken trunks cross over the rocks and lead the eye back up.
Ochres, golds and browns dominate, with bluish grays in the mist and the sky. The near-white spray stands out against the warm rock. Notice the tiny white dots on the right-hand slope, which look like goats, and the thinner white thread on the left, like a second, smaller fall.
About J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner was called “the painter of light”. He painted storms, raging seas, fog and colourful sunsets, and it is said he once had himself tied to a ship’s mast to watch a storm. He left thousands of works to his country, most of them kept today at the Tate in London.
More by J. M. W. Turner
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