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Concept
Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway
Summary
Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway is an oil painting by the 19th-century British painter J. M. W. 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 painting gives an impression of great speed in a static painting, an attribute that distinguished Turner from other artists. The work combines the power of nature and technology to create an emotional tension associated with the concept of the sublime.
The painting was painted close to the end of the Industrial Revolution, which brought a massive shift from an agrarian economy to one dominated by machine manufacturing in the Victorian Era. The railway was among the most potent symbols of industrialization, since this new way of transportation heavily affected industrial and social life. Turner seemed to be a generation ahead of other artists, as he was among the few painters at the time to consider industrial advancement as a commendable subject of art. The painting suggests that modern technology is a reality racing towards us.
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; a place that Turner had been exploring for over thirty years. The view is looking east towards London. The bridge was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1839.
Turner's painting illustrates an oncoming train in the countryside during a summer rainstorm. The train in the center is dark and rain-shrouded, surrounded by a golden natural landscape on both sides. However, the train and bridge, the solid elements of the painting, are barely hinted at, disappearing into the hazy and unreal atmosphere. The mist rising from the water, the rain that veils the sky, and the steam from the locomotive are blurred and mixed, unifying the painting's colors.
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