Known as the painter of light, JMW Turner revolutionised the art world by capturing the power of nature in his watercolours and oil paintings. As a collection of his work goes on show in Kent for the first time, Chris Price looks at what made him the master of the elements.

As the moon appears over the Margate sky, a dog playfully darts along the beach towards the sea, while two children stand bickering next to their mother.

It is a timeless image with all the bright colours of the sunset set on canvas by JMW Turner. It is also a central artwork in a new exhibition of his work.

His painting New Moon, or I’ve Lost My Boat, You Shan’t Have Your Hoop, is one of many which show the artist’s affinity with the natural world, pulled together in the collection called Turner and the Elements.

It is the first exhibition dedicated to his work at the Turner Contemporary in Margate, a landmark moment for the gallery named after him.

“It was here in Margate that he really got a sense of getting to grips with the elements,” said Turner Contemporary director Victoria Pomery.

“Margate was inspirational for him because he came here as a child and later in life. He always said it was the quality of the light. Margate faces the north which is very unusual. Most places face south.”

Looking at how Turner depicted the elements on canvas and in his watercolours, the show is divided into five sections: earth, air, water, fire and fusion. The exhibition shows how the artist’s painting technique was to revolutionise landscape painting.

“He observed the character of the elements very well but by working in the way he did he developed a flowing style where the elements began to mingle on the paper,” said the exhibition’s co-curator Ines Richter-Musso.

“You could not see where one element was ending and another was beginning. That is why we had to create the category fusion, aside from the traditional four elements of earth, air, water and fire.

“The exhibition is looking at Turner’s practice over a long period of time,” said Victoria. “It follows how his landscapes developed from his early work in the late 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, when he was looking at nature, to his later more abstract pieces. It is a very concentrated view of his watercolours and oils.”

Read the What's On blog about the launch of the exhibition

The exhibition brings together 88 of Turner’s works: 76 watercolours and 12 late oil paintings. It arrives in Margate having already gone on show in other cities with dramatic success. It became the eighth most visited collection of all time in Germany when it was first shown in Hamburg, attracting 112,000 visitors. It also went on show in Krakow in Poland, where it was seen by 70,000 people.

“People feel very involved with his works,” said Ines, who curated the exhibition with Ortrud Westheider. “There is one piece called Sunrise, with a Boat between Headlands, which is painted in a very interesting way. It feels so modern to people. People answer it with emotion. They associate things they have seen themselves with the painting.”

Turner, who lived from 1775 to 1851, was a regular visitor to Margate, where his long time mistress Sophia Caroline Booth lived. The Romantic landscape painter travelled extensively in his lifetime including to London, Dorset, Yorkshire and West Sussex.

“One thing he was trying to do was capture the experience of being in nature,” added Victoria. “He wanted to capture how you felt about standing on the beach or in the wind. He made regular visits to north Kent for this, even though this extensive travelling around the UK was before the age of trains. He walked or went by horse and carriage. He travelled to Margate by boat.

“From where he would have stayed in Margate, [which is more or less the same place the Turner Contemporary is located] he would have had a great view of the sea. The light changes very quickly and the sea is calm one minute and rough the next. He could see the sun rising and setting and the raging seas. The power of nature.”

Turner and the Elements will run at the Turner Contemporary in Margate until Sunday, May 13. Open Tuesday to Sunday and bank holidays from 10am to 6pm. Admission free. Call 01843 233000.