A Vision of the First Proper National
“Turner’s Gallery”

1. The object of The Turner Gallery is to show the united Turner Bequest properly for the first time; that is, to base its exhibition on its particular nature and on Turner’s ideas rather than on preconceptions.  Its purpose is:

   1. To show permanently 300 oil paintings.

   2. To have changing displays from 30,000 works on paper.

   3. To include miscellaneous other material – palettes etc.

2. It should be sited somewhere easily accessible by public transport, appropriate and providing sufficient space.  Security from flood, fire and blast is required.

3. It should be a building on 3 floors:

(a).  Ground Floor.  To include exhibition rooms lit by artificial light or from side windows:  3 introductory rooms, 3 more at the end of the circuit with 5 rooms for temporary exhibitions.  Other rooms would be for the Print Room, Reading Room, storage, shop, café, offices.  The first six exhibition rooms should be for watercolours and prints.  From the introductory rooms would be a staircase up to the first floor.  Another staircase would descend from the first floor to the further exhibition rooms.

(b).  First Floor.  The main suite of 20 or so rooms would be lit from above by daylight and show most of the oil paintings.  An equal number of lateral rooms lit by artificial light would show works on paper.

(c).  Second Floor.  Another 6 rooms or so above the lateral rooms on 1st Floor to show the late oils.  (Whether the Print Room should be sited on this floor for protection from flood would depend on the site chosen).

  4.  It should be capable of taking comfortably up to 1 million visitors per year.

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For more information about Selby's vision, please click here: