Turner Contemporary’s latest exhibition is a stunning display of more than 100 works by the artist JMW Turner, including the fullest survey of the artist’s watercolours of Margate yet to be shown at the gallery.

JMW Turner: Adventures in Colour is the first exhibition to examine this theme in relation to Turner, exploring the familiar outline of his life and art in a new way.

Colour is the essence of JMW Turner’s work and his distinctive, sometimes eccentric, use of vibrant colour was central to his success as an artist.

The exhibition, which is beautifully displayed, features both oil and watercolours, along with Turner’s palettes and other items he owned.

The paintings, many from private collections, run from his early and traditional Old Master style to his later works with their impressionistic use of colour for which the artist is more usually known.

The exhibition was opened by John Sauven, director of Greenpeace, who told those at the preview: “Many of Turner’s paintings were painted from this very spot where Mrs Booth had her lodging house.

“It is quite amazing to see how radical he was in his use of colour.”

The display is already proving popular, with more than 5,000 visitors to the gallery during the opening weekend.

Running alongside the Turner exhibition is a film called Vertigo Sea, created by John Akomfrah, a meditation on whaling, the environment and our relationship with the sea.

Mr Sauven said: “John’s Vertigo Sea does in film what Turner did on canvas. It is powerful and does a great service in raising important issues.”

Clive Stevens, chairman of the trustees of Turner Contemporary, said this latest exhibition came to the gallery as it was celebrating its fifth anniversary and more than two million visitors.

The exhibition can be seen until January 8 and admission is free.