Examining the life and works of the painter Turner, the author notes that a major change occurred in the artist's work around 1830. During the last twenty years of his life, forms became blurred and details disappeared behind washes and hazes of light and color. Slap attempts to explain this change, using the concept of "waking screens," defined as walls of denial built to restrain uncontrollable impulses and to defend against intolerable stimuli. Turner, low born, uncultivated, and without formal education, was from 1830 to 1837 the frequent guest of Lord Egremont at the latter's palatial estate. Slap suggests that the glamour and beauty of this life of frequent parties and distinguished guests was highly stimulating to Turner who could only look, envy, feel inferior, and withdraw to solitude, sleep, and work. The