Water and Light

Thanks to a special collaboration with the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven (USA), the Dordrechts Museum will present around ten works by Joseph Mallord William Turner starting February 8. The works come from the renowned Paul Mellon Collection, which has never before been shown in the Netherlands. One of the highlights is the famous painting Dort or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed. In 1817, Turner visited Dordrecht and was deeply moved by the play of light on the water and the stillness of the harbour. These impressions formed the basis for one of his most celebrated paintings. Now, more than two centuries later, this masterpiece returns to Dordrecht, to the place where it originated.

Water & Light

The exhibition presents Turner as the ultimate painter of water. The interplay of water and light was an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration for him. He captured the beauty of picturesque rivers and confronted us with the immense power and dangers of the wild sea. As a painter of modern life during the Industrial Revolution, Turner depicted both the beauty and potential as well as the perils of water. Water as friend and foe. He was constantly aware of humanity’s vulnerable position in the face of the forces of nature.

Nicky Assmann

Turner forms the first part of the diptych Water & Light. The second part brings the story into the present day with artist Nicky Assmann (1980). Like Turner, she visualises both the beauty and the threat of nature. Assmann creates dynamic light projections that ignite the colour play of the elements by zooming in on reflections on water and the glow of the sun. Whereas visitors traditionally stand in front of an artwork—a painting in which nature appears within the frame—Assmann immerses you fully in a spatial environment.

A unique experience

The exhibition shows how artists throughout the centuries have remained fascinated by the elements of water and light. What took shape in the seventeenth century through Aelbert Cuyp and other Dutch painters continues in this diptych via Turner to the contemporary work of Nicky Assmann. The combination of historical masterpieces, rare Turner paintings, and groundbreaking contemporary art makes this exhibition a truly unique experience.

This exceptional exhibition is made possible by the Yale Center for British Art and the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable Foundation.