Turner and the art of the seascape

The Slave Ship - J.M.W. Turner

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) was one of the greatest English painters of land and sea, and far ahead of his time. Many of his works are so wrought with raw color and emotion as to be nearly abstract.

The ocean has always been a subject for painters, though I sometimes wonder how far we have come since the 19th Century. Are any painters today exploring nature with the kind of intensity that Turner had? I don't mean simply abstracting nature for art's sake, but really ...