_-_The_Opening_of_the_Wallhalla%2C_1842_-_N00533_-_National_Gallery.jpg&width=1200)
The Opening of the Wallhalla, 1842
J. M. W. Turner·1843
Historical Context
The Opening of the Wallhalla, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1843, commemorates the inauguration of Ludwig I of Bavaria's Valhalla temple near Regensburg, which took place on October 18, 1842. The neoclassical temple, modeled on the Parthenon, was built to honor distinguished figures of Germanic history. Turner, who did not attend the ceremony, imagined the scene from accounts and his knowledge of the Danube landscape. The painting's warm, atmospheric treatment dissolves the architectural detail into golden light. Now in the National Gallery, the painting demonstrates Turner's ability to create convincing images of places and events from imagination and secondary sources.
Technical Analysis
The golden, atmospheric light dissolves the neoclassical temple and the festival crowds into shimmering fields of color. Turner's late technique of layered, translucent glazes creates an extraordinary radiance that transforms the architectural subject into pure chromatic painting.
Look Closer
- ◆Look for the Walhalla temple itself visible in the background — Ludwig I's neoclassical monument on the Danube near Regensburg, rendered in pale stone against the atmospheric sky.
- ◆Notice the festival crowds below, where Turner dissolves thousands of celebrating figures into a shimmering, golden field — the opening ceremony as collective atmospheric sensation.
- ◆Observe the river — likely the Danube — in the foreground, which Turner uses as a reflective surface to double the golden atmospheric effects of the festival day.
- ◆Find the distinction Turner makes between the solid neoclassical architecture and the dissolving crowd below — stone endures while human celebration dissolves into atmosphere and memory.
.jpg&width=600)