J. M. W. Turner's Whalers, European Paintings

June 28 - August 7, 2016 - This focus exhibition is the first to unite the series of four whaling scenes made by the British landscapist Joseph Mallord William Turner near the end of his career. The quartet of paintings comprising The Met's Whalers and its three companions in the Tate, London were among the last seascapes exhibited by Turner, for whom marine subjects were a creative mainstay.

The exhibition also highlights connections between Turner's whaling scenes and Herman Melville's 1851 whaling epic Moby-Dick. It is not certain that Melville saw the paintings when he first visited London in 1849, but he was unquestionably aware of them, and aspects of his novel are strikingly evocative of Turner's style. The exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to assess for themselves whether the British artist inspired one of the crowning achievements of American literature.