Sun Setting Over a Lake

ca. 1840

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

The exhibition history of this astonishing work, probably a depiction of Switzerland’s Lake Lucerne, is paradigmatic of the developing interest in the artist’s late work following his death. We do not know why it was left in his studio and surmise that the absence of identifiable landmarks indicate that it was not yet complete in 1851. Included in the Turner Bequest, it remained hidden until 1932. In 1966, the painting appeared, along with Margate(?) from the Sea (exhibited nearby), in "Turner: Imagination and Reality," an exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This exhibition cemented Turner’s influence among American abstract artists including Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Sun Setting Over a Lake
Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London)
Date: ca. 1840
Geography: Country of Origin Great Britain
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 35 7/8 × 48 1/4 in. (91.1 × 122.6 cm)
Framed: 42 5/16 in. × 54 3/16 in. × 5 11/16 in. (107.4 × 137.7 × 14.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art