Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus

This scene comes straight from Homer's Odyssey. The Greek hero Ulysses has just escaped the cave of the giant Cyclops Polyphemus, whom he blinded to make his getaway. As his ships pull away, Ulysses stands on deck taunting the wounded giant, who you can just make out as a shadowy shape rising from the mist among the mountains on the left. Turner painted this in 1829, and it shows him at the height of his powers, with the light and color mattering far more to him than any crisp outline.

The real subject here is the sunrise. Turner drenches the sky and sea in gold, orange, and pale yellow, so the whole canvas seems to glow from within. Look for the horses of Apollo, the sun god, faintly sketched galloping up from the horizon on the right, pulling the dawn into the sky. His ships are decorated with flags and tiny figures, almost dissolving into the haze. This blurry, luminous style puzzled many viewers in Turner's own day, but it later helped pave the way for the Impressionists, who admired how he chased light instead of fussing over detail.