Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway

Common card · No. 235293

Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway is an oil painting by the British Romantic painter J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). It depicts a steam locomotive crossing the Maidenhead Railway Bridge at a rapid speed, surrounded by a vast landscape. Turner was the first painter to use a locomotive as a subject in an academic painting. Turner's objective was to capture the sense of awe at seeing a rapidly approaching contemporary train. He placed the train tracks along a steep diagonal to increase the viewer's sense of an impending collision. The work includes small figures engaged in rural activities and a hare running away from the train. This reflected a widespread concern about the disruption modern railways were causing to traditional countryside life. Rain, Steam, and Speed is exhibited at the National Gallery in London.

Read on Wikipedia · Image J. M. W. Turner, Public domain