J. M. W. Turner – Sun is God

With over 100 paintings and watercolours by British painter J.M.W. Turner, ARoS takes the audience on a unique tour de force through romantic landscapes and paintings of atmospheric phenomena that encourage us to look slowly.

When J.M.W. Turner died in 1851, his last words were said to have been "The Sun is God". These words indicate that the sun was the artist's overriding and most beloved subject, but the moon, storms, rainbows, fog and other natural phenomena also characterised Turner's range of subjects.

The exhibition J.M.W. Turner - Sun is God is presented in collaboration with the Tate Museum in London and features over 100 works, including 25 oil paintings and 79 watercolours. Through a series of themes, the works emphasise the different aspects of Turner's art from his early production in the 1790s to his later more atmospheric works from the mid to late 1840s.

Turner leans on Romanticism as a period, but he went his own way. For Turner, it was not only about depicting the outer landscapes, but also the inner emotional landscape, and this helped to make him unique among his contemporaries. He shared an interest in the sublime with many painters of his time, both in England and in Europe, where he travelled frequently. He imagined the unattainable beyond, depicting the magnificent and untouched nature whose powers and perspectives were beyond human comprehension. At the same time, he was able to express a longing for a connection with the universe.

Small surprises and a dark room Turner's use of contrasts is reflected in the exhibition at ARoS. Visitors will therefore initially be led through a dark room in the same way that many of those who visited Turner at his home and gallery in London were. Here, they were sometimes told to stay in a darkened room before entering the gallery, where Turner's finished paintings of sublime sunrises, powerful forces of nature and mythological figures hung from floor to ceiling. According to Turner, darkness serves an important purpose in that it cleanses the mind

of preconceptions, enhancing the visual acuity and thus amplifying the experience of the works.

Lil Lacy is a Danish/American composer and musician. She received the Léonie Sonning Talent Award in 2020. Lil Lacy has an incredibly sensual approach to nature in her works. We therefore thought it would be a good idea to invite Lil to curate a playlist to accompany your visit to the Turner exhibition. You can use your own phone and headphones by following the link to Spotify here

The exhibition is realised in collaboration with Tate

A. P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal