The light and what it weighed to him

I hope many of my friends were able to see the incredible Turner show at the AGO.

The combination of the show and the recent biographical movie made a strong impression on me.  (Two previous posts on this)

Looking at his work in person, it really did seem too progressive for his time - always daring and boundary-pushing.  In watercolour as much as in oils.

The critic Ruskin was credited with helping his rise, and sustaining interest (and steady sales) in the 'right' (most-lucrative) circles.

In his later life, he fell out of royal favour and was viciously savaged by the critics particularly (bizarrely) for his aggressive use of large expanses of yellow - but these late paintings with much light and almost no literal object, have an almost violent determination to not only resist the criticism - but utterly defeat it.

Considering that these works were among the more important seeds that lead to the flowering of impressionism - I'd say he won that fight - but not without cost.