© Tate Britain
Turner & Constable: Rivals and Originals
27 November 2025 — 12 April 2026
On NowMarking 250 years since Turner and Constable's births, Tate Britain's landmark exhibition explores their famous rivalry — pairing 170+ paintings and works on paper to reveal how two very different temperaments each transformed British landscape painting.
From Tate Britain
Two of Britain’s greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable were also the greatest of rivals. Born within a year of each other – Turner in 1775, Constable in 1776 – the art critics of the day compared their paintings to a clash of ‘fire and water’. Raised in the gritty heart of Georgian London, Turner quickly became a young star of the art world despite his humble beginnings. Meanwhile Constable, the son of a wealthy Suffolk merchant,...
Read more at Tate Britain →Critic Reviews
The Standard
Melanie McDonagh
Who is the greater artist?
"This exhibition juxtaposes the two men's work without resolving the rivalry. It's by no means clear that Turner's grandiloquence puts Constable's domesticity to shame. It is simply impossible to compare Willy Lott's cottage with that fury of the elements."
Read full review →The Guardian
Adrian Searle
Boiling portentous skies versus two men and a dog
"JMW Turner is beaten by John Constable in this mighty show. But who cares when the work is so sublime you can hear the squelching and smell the river?"
Read full review →The Telegraph
Alastair Sooke
There’s one clear winner in my eyes
"This could have been so dutiful and boring, a box-ticking exercise undertaken by an institution that, in recent years, has sometimes seemed hostile to canonical artists. Instead, across 12 rooms, it proves absorbing – and audacious, with many mischievous moments in which one artist appears to occupy the other's patch. Thrilling stuff."
Read full review →The Wall Street Journal
Mary Tompkins Lewis
English Masters Side by Side
"Tate Britain mounts a spectacular show of the two contemporaries, who approached landscape painting with a shared respect for nature but vividly individualistic styles."
Read full review →The Times
Waldemar Januszczak
Turner v Constable — and my winner is…
"Like an especially annoying shaggy dog story, the face-off at Tate Britain winds here, there and everywhere without ever coming to a meaningful conclusion. This indecision might have been good enough for 2025, but not for 2026. The new year deserves a new determination to finish the job. It's a rousing display. So let's sift through it properly and come to a rousing conclusion."
Read full review →The New York Times
Emily LaBarge
These Rivals Wanted Art Fans to Pick a Side. This Show Lets You Choose Both.
"But as its title — “Rivals and Originals” — emphasizes, Turner and Constable, though perhaps fueled by competition, both avowedly plowed their own furrows and developed distinct approaches to landscape painting."
Read full review →The Observer
Laura Cumming
Turner and Constable as they've never been seen before
"It peaks and then it peaks again: Turner sunsets in one room, Constable clouds in the next, leading to the late works that exceed anything in English landscape art."
Read full review →Financial Times
Jackie Wullschläger
Turner and Constable face off exhilaratingly at Tate Britain
"Critics at the time marvelled at “Turner’s fire and Constable’s rain”, declared that Constable was “all truth” and Turner “all poetry”, though the paintings also share much: majestic composition, exaltation of nature, nostalgic sentiment."
Read full review →About the Artists
Self-portrait
J.M.W. Turner
British · 1775–1851
Painting, Drawing & Works on Paper
Turner pushed oil and watercolour to their limits, dissolving landscape into atmospheric light and colour in ways that anticipated Impressionism and remain a benchmark for the expressive power of paint.
Ramsay Richard Reinagle
John Constable
British · 1776–1837
Painting, Drawing & Works on Paper
Constable painted the English countryside with unprecedented directness and meteorological sensitivity, elevating landscape painting from topographical record to emotional experience.
Visit
Millbank, London·View on artmap
Sunday10am–6pm
Monday10am–6pm
Tuesday10am–6pm
Wednesday10am–6pm
Thursday10am–6pm
Friday10am–6pm
Saturday ·10am–6pm
Related Exhibitions
© Tate Britain
Turner & Constable: Rivals and Originals
27 November 2025 — 12 April 2026
On NowMarking 250 years since Turner and Constable's births, Tate Britain's landmark exhibition explores their famous rivalry — pairing 170+ paintings and works on paper to reveal how two very different temperaments each transformed British landscape painting.
From Tate Britain
Two of Britain’s greatest painters, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable were also the greatest of rivals. Born within a year of each other – Turner in 1775, Constable in 1776 – the art critics of the day compared their paintings to a clash of ‘fire and water’. Raised in the gritty heart of Georgian London, Turner quickly became a young star of the art world despite his humble beginnings. Meanwhile Constable, the son of a wealthy Suffolk merchant,...
Read more at Tate Britain →Critic Reviews
The Standard
Melanie McDonagh
Who is the greater artist?
"This exhibition juxtaposes the two men's work without resolving the rivalry. It's by no means clear that Turner's grandiloquence puts Constable's domesticity to shame. It is simply impossible to compare Willy Lott's cottage with that fury of the elements."
Read full review →The Guardian
Adrian Searle
Boiling portentous skies versus two men and a dog
"JMW Turner is beaten by John Constable in this mighty show. But who cares when the work is so sublime you can hear the squelching and smell the river?"
Read full review →The Telegraph
Alastair Sooke
There’s one clear winner in my eyes
"This could have been so dutiful and boring, a box-ticking exercise undertaken by an institution that, in recent years, has sometimes seemed hostile to canonical artists. Instead, across 12 rooms, it proves absorbing – and audacious, with many mischievous moments in which one artist appears to occupy the other's patch. Thrilling stuff."
Read full review →The Wall Street Journal
Mary Tompkins Lewis
English Masters Side by Side
"Tate Britain mounts a spectacular show of the two contemporaries, who approached landscape painting with a shared respect for nature but vividly individualistic styles."
Read full review →The Times
Waldemar Januszczak
Turner v Constable — and my winner is…
"Like an especially annoying shaggy dog story, the face-off at Tate Britain winds here, there and everywhere without ever coming to a meaningful conclusion. This indecision might have been good enough for 2025, but not for 2026. The new year deserves a new determination to finish the job. It's a rousing display. So let's sift through it properly and come to a rousing conclusion."
Read full review →The New York Times
Emily LaBarge
These Rivals Wanted Art Fans to Pick a Side. This Show Lets You Choose Both.
"But as its title — “Rivals and Originals” — emphasizes, Turner and Constable, though perhaps fueled by competition, both avowedly plowed their own furrows and developed distinct approaches to landscape painting."
Read full review →The Observer
Laura Cumming
Turner and Constable as they've never been seen before
"It peaks and then it peaks again: Turner sunsets in one room, Constable clouds in the next, leading to the late works that exceed anything in English landscape art."
Read full review →Financial Times
Jackie Wullschläger
Turner and Constable face off exhilaratingly at Tate Britain
"Critics at the time marvelled at “Turner’s fire and Constable’s rain”, declared that Constable was “all truth” and Turner “all poetry”, though the paintings also share much: majestic composition, exaltation of nature, nostalgic sentiment."
Read full review →About the Artists
Self-portrait
J.M.W. Turner
British · 1775–1851
Painting, Drawing & Works on Paper
Turner pushed oil and watercolour to their limits, dissolving landscape into atmospheric light and colour in ways that anticipated Impressionism and remain a benchmark for the expressive power of paint.
Ramsay Richard Reinagle
John Constable
British · 1776–1837
Painting, Drawing & Works on Paper
Constable painted the English countryside with unprecedented directness and meteorological sensitivity, elevating landscape painting from topographical record to emotional experience.
Visit
Millbank, London·View on artmap
Sunday10am–6pm
Monday10am–6pm
Tuesday10am–6pm
Wednesday10am–6pm
Thursday10am–6pm
Friday10am–6pm
Saturday ·10am–6pm