Shore Scene with Waves and Breakwater

Turner’s small oils on millboard are just as remarkable as his late marine canvases. The former address similar subjects to the latter but in a more abstract and perfunctory manner than anything else he had painted on oil.

These could have hardly been made outdoors, as Turner seemed to have entered the very spray and surge of the breakers as they crash on the shore. He recreated the experience of his walks on the sands, from memory and perhaps, inspired by the movement of paint itself. Even when not painted within the elements they describe, many of his oil sketches convey more sense of the open air.