Year 1844 Artist J. M. W. Turner Period Romanticism Media Oil paint | Medium oil on canvas Dimensions 91 cm x 1.22 m Created 1844 Genre Landscape painting | |
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Location National Gallery, London Similar J M W Turner artwork, Landscape paintings, Romantic artwork | ||
Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway is an oil painting by the 19th-century British painter Joseph Mallord William Turner. The painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844, though it may have been painted earlier. It is now in the collection of the National Gallery, London.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was one of a number of private British railway companies created to develop the new means of transport. The location of the painting is widely accepted as Maidenhead Railway Bridge, across the River Thames between Taplow and Maidenhead. The view is looking east towards London. The bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1838. A hare runs along the track in the bottom right of the painting, possibly symbolising speed itself. Some think this is a reference to the limits of technology. Others believe the animal is running in fear of the new machinery and Turner meant to hint at the danger of man's new technology destroying the inherent sublime elements of nature.