Tied to the Mast: Understanding Grief

An Artist, A Storm, and Perspective on Grief

I grew up in a world of color and canvases. That’s what happens when your grandmother is an artist. By the time I came into the world, my grandmother painted, sold her work in her own art supply store, and even taught others to paint. Spending a week with her in the summer meant spending days at her shop, where she would have my sister and me propped up in the back room with some type of art project to keep us busy. It often involved a blank canvas, brushes, and whatever colors she would put on the palette before us. 

Those summers of long ago gave me a gift that has never left: an interest in art. I took an art appreciation class in college and still enjoy learning about artists and their work. 

As I have been writing about grief and suffering, storm imagery keeps surfacing—arriving in my mind until it makes its way into words. When I discovered what artist J.M.W. Turner did to paint a storm, I knew I wanted to write about it. 

JMW Turner went to the great lengths of having himself tied to the mast of a ship and taken out to sea so he could experience a storm firsthand. Rather than watching a storm from a distance, he realized that being physically inside a storm would offer a unique and intimate perspective. He knew that standing in the midst of raging wind and waves would allow him to see it, and therefore paint it, differently than those who watched from the shoreline.   

The result was his painting, "Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth," which was exhibited in 1842.

The painting was harsh. It might have been called ugly. Dark colors seem to swirl into one another, creating a blurred sense of chaos. The only recognizable element in the painting is the ship that seems almost swallowed by the madness surrounding it.  The painting is unlike anything that was considered acceptable art of the day. 

In the early 1800s, the Romantic Movement was on the rise in England. It involved an artistic philosophy that emphasized emotion over logic and feeling over precision. Nature was a common theme in art, displayed not in meticulous detail, but through creative brushwork.  

Yet, what Turner portrayed in his painting went far beyond the conventions of Romanticism. His depiction of the storm was so unconventional that there was talk that he had gone mad. While his method was a bit eccentric, doesn’t it make sense? When you have experienced a storm firsthand—when you have felt the spray of water in your face, winds pushing wildly against your body, and the terror that comes with it all—your account will seem extreme to those who have not. It might seem ghastly to those who hear it, or in the artist’s case, see it, through the eyes of the one who lived it. Those who had never experienced a storm the same way that Turner did could not relate to what his paint portrayed on the canvas. 

There is debate about whether the story is true. If we have to choose, let’s err on the side of choosing to believe it. Because it makes sense. 

When we experience a storm firsthand, we are able to see that it’s not what others think. When others paint a storm they’ve seen from afar, we think to ourselves, “That’s not what it’s really like.” When we have been tied to the mast through howling winds and raging waves, we understand storms like no one else.   And, when we try to paint a true depiction, people look at us wide-eyed, draw back a little, and might choose to walk away. 

Do you know who would have believed Turner’s painting and story to be true? Others who had been on the boat during the storm, or on a boat during a similar storm. Maybe they hadn’t been eccentric enough to seek out the experience, but for whatever reason, they, too, were caught in the middle of a storm. They also experienced the fear, the bewilderment, and the agony of a storm. They experienced the angry winds, the pelting rain, and the desperate clinging on for dear life. The ones who recognize the storm are the ones who have lived through it themselves. 

Storms bring understanding.

Storms bring empathy. 

Storms bring an appreciation for the clear skies that will eventually follow. 

Because storms do pass. 

The light does return. 

And if grace allows it, God paints for us! 

In contrast to the dull, dark colors of the storm, He chooses bright colors that are vivid and varied, and He puts on an exhibition for us! He gives us an arc of hope in the sky. He paints for us His promise after the pain.