Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Exploring the Relationship Between Humanity and Nature in the Art of J.M.W. Turner

Jiayi MuMcGill University*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

During the Romantic era, artists grew increasingly interested in the sublime forces of nature and the vulnerability of humanity. One of the most renowned artists of the day, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), gained a hearing in this debate due to his revolutionary treatment of color, light, and atmospheric representation. This paper explores Turner’s conceptualization of the human-nature relationship, focusing on two of his iconic works: The Slave Ship (1840) and Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (1842). The analysis describes how such Turner techniques as emotive brushwork, atmospheric dissolution, and startling contrasts generate a multi-sensory experience of nature’s grandeur and human vulnerability that is particularly intense. To trace Turner’s positioning within the Romantic aesthetic and beyond, the present analysis adopts a literature-based approach that intersects art-historical, philosophical, and ecocritical frameworks of thought. In addition to dramatizing nature’s overwhelming and inevitable power, Turner’s works blur the line between observer and scene, engendering an embodied spectacle of awe, terror, and wonder. Furthermore, the study juxtaposes Turner’s perspective with that of artists including Richard Long, Claude Monet, and Katsushika Hokusai to reveal commonalities and divergences across artistic traditions in depicting what it means to be in nature, whether framed in terms of overpowering experiences, terror, beauty, or the sublime. Turner’s seascapes also anticipate later artistic explorations of sensory involvement and ecological consciousness, while at the same time representing the Romantic sublime. His work reveals human interaction with nature, yet this relationship is experiential, dynamic, and never completely mastered by humans.

Keywords: Turner; Human-Nature Relationship; Sensory Experience; Romanticism; Seascape Painting
Published: December 18, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.HT30599
Volume: CHR Vol.100
pp. 193-200
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