Sunrise with Sea Monsters, c. 1840-1845
Oil on canvas
Tate, London, Bequeathed by the Artist, 1856

Atmosphere is my style.
Joseph Mallord William Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner was fascinated with the atmosphere of the sea, especially the saturated colors of the sky and its reflection on the water. In Sunrise with Sea Monsters, he blurs the definable lines of sky, sea, and land and may cause the viewer to wonder about the contents of the image. The climbing yellow tones of the sun highlight the sea creatures basking in the shallow waters in the foreground. The hazy hues and shades of purple and yellow are common complementary colors seen in Turner’s later works. The open mouthed fish, once thought to be an image of a sea monster by scholars, may have been an oil study of marine life. Although the painting was not intended for exhibition, it was displayed for the first time in 1906. The title of the work did not come from the artist but instead was invented by curators.