When Ulysses deriding Polyphemus was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1829, it drew both admiration and confusion—one critic marveled at its "dazzling mists and burning clouds," while others struggled to decipher its swirling forms. The painting stands out as one of Joseph Mallord William Turner's most ambitious mythological canvases, created at the height of his fame. Turner deliberately placed this work alongside his rival John Constable's landscapes, sparking a lively debate in the London art world about the future of British painting.

Its dramatic treatment of light and color was seen as a bold challenge to tradition, prompting viewers to reconsider what a historical painting could be. Turner seizes the moment from Homer’s Odyssey when Ulysses, having blinded the giant Polyphemus, escapes by ship and taunts the furious Cyclops from afar. The painting’s eye is drawn to the glowing sails of Ulysses’ vessel, bathed in a fiery sunrise that seems to dissolve the boundary between sea and sky. Above, the massive, shadowy form of Polyphemus looms from the rocky cliffs, his outstretched arm grasping in vain.

The scattered sheep, a reference to the clever escape beneath the animals’ bellies, dot the lower slopes. Unlike earlier treatments of this myth, such as Arnold Böcklin's later and more literal Odysseus and Polyphemus, Turner dissolves narrative clarity into a vision of elemental forces, using color and light to evoke the chaos and triumph of the moment. The painting was acquired soon after completion by the collector Walter Fawkes, a devoted patron of Turner and a key supporter of his experimental style. Over the years, Ulysses deriding Polyphemus passed through several hands before entering the collection of the National Gallery, and later the National Gallery’s Turner Bequest, which ultimately formed the core of the Tate Britain’s Turner holdings.

Today, it remains a highlight of the Tate's collection, emblematic of Turner’s late period, when he pushed the boundaries of narrative painting toward something visionary and new. The original medium—oil on canvas—has withstood the test of time, though the painting’s bold colors and energetic brushwork continue to provoke debate about Turner’s intentions and his place in the history of art.