Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth
1842 · Oil on canvas · Tate Britain, London
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851)
- Year
- 1842
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 91 × 122 cm
- Collection
- Tate Britain, London
- Movement
- Romanticism
A paddle steamer labours in a vortex of snow, spray and smoke, its mast and paddle-wheel barely legible at the centre of a composition that spins around a single pale patch of light. Turner painted it in 1842, in his late sixties, and showed it at the Royal Academy that year with a long title claiming he had been aboard the Ariel the night she left Harwich. Modern scholars doubt the story of being lashed to the mast for four hours, but the picture's ambition is clear: to make paint convey wind and motion rather than describe a ship. Reviewers who expected a legible vessel were baffled; Ruskin judged it the greatest sea painting Turner ever made. Turner never sold it. It passed to the nation in the Turner Bequest and hangs at Tate Britain.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A vortex of snow, spray and smoke around one pale patch of light, for a study, hallway or coastal living room at 24×18 or 32×24 in black. A white, pale grey or deep blue wall; it reads as near-abstract and suits spare rooms.
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1842)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- dramatic, moody
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; oak lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge-to-edge at its own proportions, filling the whole sheet — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
