What to see this week

JMW Turner: Adventures in Colour is at Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, from October 8 to January 8, 2017 (01843 233000; www.turnercontemporary.org) Turner’s radical use of colour is explored through more than 100 oils and watercolours, many of which exploit the vibrant, often unconventional palette that is key to such works as his fiery Vermilion Towers of about 1834 (above). The exhibition examines the artist’s interest in colour theory and in experimenting with new materials and techniques. Appropriately for the fifth anniversary of Turner Contemporary, Margate is a particular theme, showing the inspiration Turner gained from the light and skies peculiar to that part of the Kent coast (where he spent much time in his later life), as well, of course, as his love of the sea.

Three selling exhibitions

Modern British Art is at Crane Kalman Gallery, 178, Brompton Road, London SW3, until October 29 (020–7584 7566; www.cranekalman.com) This eclectic mix by 20th-century British artists includes works by the Nicholsons, William Scott, Alan Lowndes, Graham Sutherland, Craigie Aitchison and Mary Newcomb. Also on show is a diptych by Edmund de Waal and sculptures by the talented Tom Stogdon.

Dione Verulam: Recent Work is at Rebecca Hossack Gallery, 2a, Conway Street, London W1, until October 29 (020–7436 4899; www.rebeccahossack.com) Inspired by the colour and abstract pattern-making of masters such as Matisse and Braque, Dione Verulam has used her old monoprints, etchings and watercolours, as well as antique book-binding papers, to create a series of vibrant collages depicting favourite pastimes, such as picnicking and travel. Scenes such as Siesta Sur lõherbe, Pyrenees and Searching for Truffles show her familiar motifs of horses, hounds and the hunt reappearing in new landscapes.

Vessels: Nature Morte is at Michael Richardson Contemporary Art, 84, St Peter’s Street, London N1, until October 15 (020–7359 7002; www.artspacegallery.co.uk) Nick Miller describes his moving group of still lifes as ‘a personal response to the passing of life, to slowly letting go, while celebrating life’s fragility and tenacity’. Comprising deft oil studies of plants and flowers seen against abstract backgrounds, they connect him to his recently deceased mother; the vases and bottles in which the cuttings are arranged belonged to her. A catalogue with texts by Colm Tóibín and Sean Rainbird accompanies the exhibition.