Rain, Steam and Speed

A dark locomotive charges out of a golden haze in this 1844 painting by J. M. W. Turner, its smokestack the one solid shape in a world that seems to be melting into rain and light. The train races across a bridge over the Thames, but almost everything around it dissolves into swirling browns, blues, and pale yellows. Turner was captivated by both the fury of nature and the roar of new machines, and here he lets the two collide in a blur of weather and speed. The steam train was cutting-edge technology at the time, and he treated it with the same awe he usually reserved for storms and sunsets.

Often called an early cousin of the Impressionists, Turner cared far more about mood than sharp edges. One well-loved tale claims he leaned out of a moving train during a downpour just to soak up the sensation before painting this scene. True or not, the canvas throbs with the feeling of a machine tearing through open country. Many people read it as a snapshot of a shifting world, where quiet rural life was fading into the smoke and clatter of the railway age.

Down near the front of the train runs a tiny hare, a small figure easy to miss in all that mist. It seems to be racing the engine, a playful nod to the old rivalry between living speed and mechanical power. That little creature gives a human, almost tender edge to a work that from across the room looks like little more than fog and fire.