A retrospective of J.M.W. Turner’s work opened at the Met today. The show was at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. last year. I saw it there in early October, just after it opened. I look forward to experiencing it again soon. According to Edmund Burke, Turner’s works are an examplar of what he writes about the sublime in nature; the awe and terror it instills in us are the most powerful emotions we can experience. I cannot find his exact quote. It’ somewhere in my notebooks. But you can read (or peruse) Burke’s On the Sublime and Beautiful to learn what it’s all about. I’ve read through some of the chapters. I think if you’re a deeply feeling person, or in touch with the natural world around you, you can sense what he writes is innate to us. Whether you’ll experience it seeing Turner’s work is another question.

Sublime traveling from the West, across the river, towards my window—perhaps.

Buen provecho..