Celebrate Turner 250 with an Exclusive Art History Experience
Celebrate 250 years of JMW Turner’s enduring legacy, one of Britain’s greatest painters, with our cultural arts tour. This expert-guided journey offers exclusive access to key collections at The Courtauld, Petworth House, and Tate Britain, colouring a wider year of ‘Turner 250’, celebrations marking a quarter-century since his birth.
Explore the Legacy of Turner at 250
‘Your business, Winsor, is to make colour. Mine is to use them.’
An exasperated friend, chemist turned paint producer, William Winsor, often complained about Turner’s lack of concern over the longevity of his work. But his quest was to capture natural phenomena and climatic drama; just like these fleeting moments of light and colour, the pigments he used, such as cochineal carmine, natural indigo and chrome yellows, have long since faded. Yet despite his flippancy towards preservation, in the 250th year of his birth, we continue to celebrate the artistic legacies he catalysed but also the emotive power of his work which continues to hold relevancy.
Guided Access to Turner’s Masterpieces
Join us in September 2025 to explore the works & life of JMW Turner. Turner’s humble beginnings and meteoric rise are well-known, but his enrolment at the Royal Academy of Arts at the age 14 in 1790 and position as a full Academician in 1802 echo through the centuries as prodigal achievements.
Private Viewings
Our private viewing of prints and drawings by Turner at the Courtauld (occupying the original Royal Academy of Arts buildings) on day one of our small-group Mr Turner tour reveals the context within which his early masterpieces, including Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps, were exhibited.
Day two includes visits to The National Gallery and Greenwich, laced with Turner history. The following day establishes a fresh perspective, with a private tour of Turner’s House, a small villa in Twickenham. The building offers a glimpse into the domestic world of Turner, but is also currently hosting a temporary loan exhibition, Turner’s Kingdom, which we explore with a curator.
Turner at Petworth – A Stately Canvas
Petworth House and Turner are inseparable in any discussion of that artist’s life. It is probably here, under the close patronship of George Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, that Turner’s experiments were most innovative and wild. Our visit on day three, unveils his interpretations of the Capability Brown deer park and the landscapes surrounding the house.
London: Turner in Life and Death
The remaining two days of the tour include visits to Sir John Soane’s Museum, as well as to the Tate Britain Turner collection, where a majority of his is displayed and cared for. Alongside a permanent exhibition, the Tate’s Turner and Constable exhibition invests the rivalry between the two artists with new interpretations. Also, visit St Paul’s Cathedral, the national ‘pantheon’, where Turner was buried, as he had requested in his will, ‘among my Brothers in Art’ Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Our incursion into Turner’s world is led by expert speaker Dr Jacqueline Riding, historical advisor for Mike Leigh’s award-winning film Mr. Turner (2014), and consultant for the restoration of the artist’s villa in Twickenham.
Beyond the Tour - ‘Turner 250’ Celebrated
Across the UK and beyond the path our Turner group tour treads, other museums and galleries mark the ‘Turner 250’ celebrations.
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery: JMW Turner and changing visions of landscape exhibition brings together, for the first time, four of his paintings of the Bridges at Walton.
The Whitworth, Manchester is exhibiting Turner’s Liber Studiorum – a series of prints split into six themes (Historical, Pastoral, Epic Pastoral, Mountainous, Architectural and Marine), showcasing Turner’s belief in landscape as an innovative form of expression.
In the United States, the Yale Centre for British Art presents J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality, and Taft (Cincinnati) celebrates the milestone with a display of Turner’s views of Switzerland, Germany, France, England, Scotland, and Italy.
From the comfort of one’s home, our expert-led online talks series, Turner and the Grand Tour, centres on the life, works and travels of Turner through the prism of the Grand Tour. Led by Simon Rees, this five-part series explores Turner’s influences alongside his contemporaries such as Byron, Shelley, Dickens, and Browning.
Book A Turner Tour
Mr Turner – paintings and place – a celebration of the artist’s life and art
1–5 September 2025
Turner & the Grand Tour – five online talks by Simon Rees
20 March–17 April 2025
Birth of the Modern – Britain in the Age of Jane Austen & JMW Turner, 10–12 November 2025
Explore all expert-led cultural group tours in the United Kingdom.
Image: Fishermen at Sea, exhibited in 1796, the first oil painting exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy © Tate Britain
