Aside from the Turner Prize exhibition, I explored the Romantics Collection and looked at some of Joseph Mallord William Turner's paintings at the Tate Britain. Many of Turner's landscape works seem to emanate some sort of heavenly glow that makes it soothing to look at those paintings. This, coupled with exhaustion from the flight, made the works appear more as dreamlike portals than just oil paint on a rectangular stretch of canvas. "Sun Setting Over a Lake" exemplifies the dreamlike uncertainty and painterly blend of colors common in Romantic artwork. The warm color palette is not overwhelming; Turner's combination of tints and even lighter tints makes this work a joy to look at, despite not depicting the landscape precisely.
The museum has a very thorough representation of the Romantic movement, and I particularly enjoyed William Blake's etchings in paint and ink. They depict beastly figures, made all the more frightening by the figures' strangely fluid body shapes. It suggests that these terrifying things can slip into our consciousness easily--I have a very active imagination, so staring at "The Blasphemer" felt like I made my mind vulnerable to it. The tortured body in the center with the two ghost-like men on either side actually illustrate the punishment of a crime. Blake's depiction however, puts the Blasphemer in the position of a helpless victim. The injustice and the trailing movements of the raised arms, stones in hand, make this artwork an interesting experience after twenty-four hours of no sleep.
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