Art For Art's Sake: Turner

I thought this year, for my regular monthly break from the state of the world, I'd pick out twelve examples of art that I like. Don't worry. They won't, I'm sure, all be highbrow :)

So without further ado, January's pick is this Turner painting of Whitby:

Don't get me wrong, I like all other Turner paintings too - but the ones that you see everywhere, like The Fighting Temeraire or The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons don't move me quite so much as this very much lesser-known work.

Perhaps it's the rich colour, and the fact that (unusual for Turner) people are front and centre in the scene. Perhaps it's because, like Woman on a Raft, I know and love the town itself. There's another painting from a different angle, but it lacks the industrious fisherfolk that gives this one so much life.

Sadly, in modern Whitby, landslips look likely to change the town itself permanently.

There's a Royal Academy exhibition (closing next month) that showcases some of Turner's work. I don't think this will be one of them, sadly.

Next month: unknown