April 2025
“The skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe”.
As a resident of the northeast coast of Kent this is certainly my own, biased opinion, but it was someone with infinitely greater expertise who expressed the sentiment over 200 years ago. The declaration was made by one of our most famous English painters, JMW Turner, who is celebrated in this, the 250th anniversary year of his birth in 1775. Inevitably, the focus is on the galleries that display his work – Tate Modern in London has over 300 of his oil paintings alone – but there is only one gallery that bears his name: the Turner Contemporary in Margate.
Many of us in Britain carry an image of this structure in our wallet or purse if we happen to have a £20 banknote on us. The self-portrait of the eminent artist is displayed on one side of the note issued in 2020 and launched at the Margate gallery; a key feature is the large see-through window depicting Margate lighthouse and Turner Contemporary.
The striking building, designed by award-winning architect Sir David Chipperfield is located next to the small harbour at Margate on the extreme northeast corner of Kent. In the waters just to the north, ships have for centuries anchored to await the turn of the tide to access the Thames and Turner would have seen both local fishing boats and large naval and commercial sailing vessels coming close to the coast in a range of weather conditions.
The modern art gallery is a space for temporary exhibition and events near the very place where Turner used to paint. Huge windows bring in the northern light that illuminates the coastline and inspired Turner to perfect his atmospheric depictions of sea and sky. To celebrate his birthday on 23rd April, his painting Waves Breaking on a Lee Shore at Margate has been brought ‘home’ to the Margate gallery for display until April 2026.
Thanet was not the only southeast setting for the great artist’s paintings: famously, Turner depicted the first pier at Brighton, sketched the landscape around the quaint Sussex harbour town of Rye and painted the Elysian visions of the park designed by that most famous English landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown at Petworth House in West Sussex. Petworth is certainly the place to view ten rarely-seen Turner views of Petworth this year, on loan especially for the Turner 250 celebrations from the Tate in London. From 21 June to 16 November the event Petworth Park Through Turner’s Eyes links them to the landscape with a two-hour walking trail.
Come to Southeast England and let our guides show you the landscape of this region – and you can decide whether the skies are indeed the loveliest in Europe!