Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on loan
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Fall an Avalanche in Grisons
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
architecture
avalanche
blizzard
cottage
countries and continents
destruction
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
landscape
mountain
movement
natural phenomena
places
residential
rocky
Switzerland, Graubünden
universal concepts
weather
wooded
<p>Dramatic Alpine scenes were a stock feature of Sublime landscape. Though Turner had visited the Alps in 1802, there is no evidence that he visited the area represented in this picture, or that he actually witnessed an avalanche. Instead, the stimulus for creating this scene may have been reports of an avalanche that occurred at Selva in the Grisons in December 1808, killing twenty-five people. Yet far from attempting reportage, Turner creates an almost abstract scene of overwhelming elemental forces.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
25 April 2001 – 29 July 2001
2001-07-29
25 April 2001 – 30 July 2001
2001-07-30
2001-04-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-04-25
House and Studio
Collection based display
24 June 2002 – 21 May 2007
2007-05-21
24 June 2002 – 1 July 2003
2003-07-01
2002-06-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-06-24
Turner: Sublime Landscape
Collection based display
22 May 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
22 May 2006 – 3 September 2006
2006-09-03
2006-05-22
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
23 September 2006 – 7 January 2007
2007-01-07
2006-09-23
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
2006-05-22
Art at the Rockface
Loan-out
28 May 2007 – 27 July 2009
2009-07-27
28 May 2007
2007-05-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-05-28
A Turner Gallery
Collection based display
21 September 2009 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
21 September 2009 – 24 January 2010
2010-01-24
2009-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
22 February 2010 – 23 May 2010
2010-05-23
2010-02-22
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
21 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
2010-06-21
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain)
2009-09-21
Turner and the Masters
Exhibition
22 February 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
21 September 2009 – 3 January 2010
2010-01-03
2009-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
21 June 2010 – 19 September 2010
2010-09-19
2010-06-21
Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid, Spain)
2010-02-22
Turner and the Masters
Loan-out
30 July 2010 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
30 July 2010 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
2010-07-30
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-07-30
Romantics
Collection based display
8 February 2013 – 13 April 2014
2014-04-13
8 February 2013 – 19 May 2013
2013-05-19
2013-02-08
Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide, Australia)
http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au
4 June 2013 – 8 September 2013
2013-09-08
2013-06-04
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia)
8 October 2013 – 18 December 2013
2013-12-18
2013-10-08
Toyko Metropolitan Art Museum (Toyko, Japan)
1 January 2014 – 13 April 2014
2014-04-13
2014-01-01
Kobe City Museum (Kobe, Japan)
2013-02-08
J.M.W. Turner: Makings of a Master
Loan-out
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
6 July 2019 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
6 July 2019 – 13 October 2019
2019-10-13
2019-07-06
Kunstmuseum (Luzern, Switzerland)
http://www.kunstmuseumluzern.ch
8 November 2019 – 26 January 2020
2020-01-26
2019-11-08
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
20 February 2020 – 7 September 2020
2020-09-07
2020-02-20
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
15 October 2020 – 2 May 2021
2021-05-02
2020-10-15
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
2019-07-06
The Sea and the Alps: Turner's Quest for the Sublime
Tate partnerships & programmes
16 October 2021 – 14 July 2023
2023-07-14
16 October 2021 – 6 March 2022
2022-03-06
2021-10-16
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (Aarhus, Denmark)
18 May 2022 – 11 September 2022
2022-09-11
2022-05-18
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain)
http://www.mnac.es
8 October 2022 – 5 February 2023
2023-02-05
2022-10-08
National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland)
http://www.nationalgallery.ie
3 March 2023 – 25 June 2023
2023-06-25
2023-03-03
Fondation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, Switzerland)
2021-10-16
Turner Watercolours: Sun is God
Tate partnerships & programmes
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
28 October 2023 – 10 March 2024
2024-03-10
2023-10-28
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany)
2023-10-28
Turner at Lenbachhaus Munich
Loan-out
6 July 2024 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
6 July 2024 – 1 September 2024
2024-09-01
2024-07-06
Grimaldi Forum (Monaco, Monaco)
30 September 2024 – 7 May 2025
2025-05-07
2024-09-30
Museum of Art Pudong (Shanghai, China)
21 June 2025 – 5 October 2025
2025-10-05
2025-06-21
Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane, Australia)
1 June 2026 – 1 October 2026
2026-10-01
2026-06-01
External
15 November 2026 – 15 March 2027
2027-03-15
2026-11-15
External
1 May 2027 – 1 September 2027
2027-09-01
2027-05-01
External
15 October 2027 – 15 January 2028
2028-01-15
2027-10-15
External
2024-07-06
Turner's Sublime Legacy
Tate partnerships & programmes
The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons
support: 902 × 1200 mm
frame: 1345 × 1668 × 160 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<div class="text">
<p>Dramatic Alpine scenes were a stock feature of Sublime landscape. Though Turner had visited the Alps in 1802, there is no evidence that he visited the area represented in this picture, or that he actually witnessed an avalanche. Instead, the stimulus for creating this scene may have been reports of an avalanche that occurred at Selva in the Grisons in December 1808, killing twenty-five people. Yet far from attempting reportage, Turner creates an almost abstract scene of overwhelming elemental forces.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2016-02-18T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>109. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-fall-of-an-avalanche-in-the-grisons-n00489" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00489</span></a>]<b> The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons</b> Exh. 1810
<br/>
<br/>Also known as <i>Cottage destroyed by an Avalanche</i>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (489)
<br/>Canvas, 35 1/2 × 47 1/4 (90×120)</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (9, ‘Avalanche’ 4'0"×3'0"); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1910.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Turner's gallery 1810 (14); Tate Gallery 1931 (56); Amsterdam 1936 (158); Amsterdam, Berne, Paris (repr.), Brussels, Liege (16), Venice (repr.) and Rome (repr.) (18) 1947–8; Rotterdam 1955 (50); Tate Gallery 1959 (346); Detroit and Philadelphia 1968 (116); Paris 1972 (261, repr.); R.A. 1974–5 (87); Hamburg 1976 (16, colour pl. 3); Hague 1978–9 (vii, repr. in colour); Munich 1979–80 (219, repr.); Paris 1983–4 (27, repr. in colour); Birmingham 1984.</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Ruskin 1843 and 1857 (1903–12, iii, p. 239; xii, pp. 122–3); Thornbury 1877, p. 378; Armstrong 1902, p. 218; MacColl 1920, p. 9; Whitley 1928, p. 177; Davies 1946, p. 185; H.F. Finberg 1951, pp. 384, 386; Finberg 1961, pp. 167, 472 no. 151; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 31, pl. 48; Lindsay 1966, pp. 106–7; Lindsay 1966<sup>2</sup>, p. 21 n.; Reynolds 1969, p. 83, colour pl. 63; Gaunt 1971, p. 5, colour pl. 10; Watson 1971, pp. 113–14, pl. 36; Herrmann 1975, pp. 20–21, 229, colour pl. 56; Russell and Wilton 1976, pp. 17–18, repr. in colour on cover; Wilton 1979, pp. 95, 153, pl. 101; Mattheson 1980, pp. 393–4, pl. 11; Wilton 1980, pp. 98–9; Paulson 1982, pp. 77–9, pl. 41; Paulson 1982<sup>2</sup>, p. 141, pl. 93.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Exhibited with the following lines, which anticipate those attributed by Turner to his <i>Fallacies of Hope</i>, first quoted in connection with <i>Hannibal crossing the Alps</i> (No. 126 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-snow-storm-hannibal-and-his-army-crossing-the-alps-n00490" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00490</span></a>]):
<br/></p>
<p>‘The downward sun a parting sadness gleams,
<br/>Portenteous lurid thro' the gathering storm;
<br/>Thick drifting snow on snow,
<br/>Till the vast weight bursts thro' the rocky barrier;
<br/>Down at once, its pine clad forests,
<br/>And towering glaciers fall, the work of ages
<br/>Crashing through all! extinction follows,
<br/>And the toil, the hope of man—o'erwhelms.’</p>
<p></p>
<p>As Jack Lindsay has pointed out, these verses and the reference to the Grisons recall a passage from ‘Winter’ in Thomson's <i>Seasons</i>. John Gage suggests that the verses may also echo Job xiv, 18–19, and also the <i>Paraphrase on the Book of Job</i> edited by Sir Richard Blackmore (2nd ed. 1716).
<br/>
<br/>It is not known if Turner visited the Grisons when he was in Switzerland in 1802. In any case it is probable, as Dr. Amstutz has pointed out, that Turner had heard about the avalanche that took place at Selva in the Grisons in December 1808, a disaster in which 25 people were killed in one cottage alone (see Russell and Wilton, <i>loc. cit.</i>).
<br/>
<br/>Turner was probably also inspired by two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> of avalanches by de Loutherbourg in the collections of his patrons, one, of <i>c.</i> 1800, in the collection of Lord Egremont (still at Petworth, repr. illustrated souvenir <i>The First Hundred Years of the Royal <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/academy" title="Glossary definition for 'Academy'"><span>Academy</span></a></i>, R.A. 1951–2, p. 53), the other, dated 1803, exhibited at the R.A. in 1804 and sold to Sir John Leicester in 1805 (now Tate Gallery; see <i>The Tate Gallery Report 1965–66</i>, pp. 19–20, repr.; also Herrmann 1975, repr. pl. 55). However, as Ruskin noted in his <i>Notes on the Turner Gallery at Marlborough House</i> 1857, ‘No one ever before had conceived a stone in flight’; de Loutherbourg's pictures and the verses of Thomson deal only with the power of falling snow. A contemporary review of Turner's gallery in the <i>Sun</i> of 12 June 1810 noted that the picture ‘is not in his usual style, but is not less excellent’.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture avalanche blizzard cottage countries and continents destruction emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities landscape mountain movement natural phenomena places residential rocky Switzerland, Graubünden universal concepts weather wooded