Turner and the Landscape Generation: Journeys in Watercolour

18 June – 5 September 2027
Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries

Trace the journeys of Britain’s trailblazing 18th century landscape artists

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), John Constable (1776-1837), Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) were part of a pioneering generation who transformed British art and the practice of landscape watercolour. All born within a few years of each other, this remarkable quartet underwent the same professional training and frequented the same sketching clubs, the birthplace of enduring friendships and rivalries.

This exhibition will explore the works of these four ground-breaking British artists, featuring masterpieces from the Courtauld’s collection alongside loans from major UK collections. It will trace their journeys – such as Turner’s travels in Switzerland and Germany, Cotman’s tour of Yorkshire, Constable’s trips to the Lake District, and journeys made by Girtin, Turner and Cotman across Wales – charting how they placed landscape at the heart of their practice and made it the focus of British art.

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