Beat the winter blues with JMW Turner's watercolours

The foreground figures help establish the scale of this awe-inspiring view over the remote Loch Coruisk. Turner travelled north from Edinburgh in 1831 to find suitable subjects for his illustrations for Walter Scott. This appeared as the frontispiece to Cadell's edition of The Lord of the Isles Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

In Turner's Venice from the Laguna, the city is just visible on the horizon, caught between stormy skies and choppy water. This piece is characteristic of studies made during his third and final visit to the city in 1840 Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

Turner's abiding fascination with the effects of strong light often enhanced the sense of space in his landscapes. While the precise location has not been identified, this work relates to other sketches Turner made in the Rhône Valley in 1836 Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

One of Turner's most spectacular Venetian studies, this depiction of a storm in the Piazzetta was made some time after Turner's second visit to the city in 1833 Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

This is the earliest of Turner's watercolours depicting the waterfalls near New Lanark, Scotland. Related works are housed in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Photograph: The National Gallery, Scotland

Dazzling sunlight fills this view of Heidelberg on the Rhine. It is one of several drawings Turner made in Germany in 1840 and is considered one of his finest works on paper Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

Rolling clouds loom like huge waves engulfing the pass below in this stormy scene. Turner first crossed the St Gothard Pass in 1802 and returned in the 1840s, inspired to make several sketches and watercolours along the way Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland

Turner began to work on blue paper in the mid-1920s; in this sea view he used it to capture the intensity of colour in his magnificent sky Photograph: National Gallery of Scotland