Théodore Géricault - The Raft of the Medusa 1819 Oil on canvas, 491 × 716 cm Paris, Musée du Louvre
"The impression made on me was so strong, that on leaving the study began to run wildly. "
Delacroix (1855)
Historical News
Gericault For this painting is inspired by a tragic piece of news: the wreck of the Medusa, a ship that was carrying soldiers and civilians to the colony of Senegal - occurred on July 2 1816, off the coast of West Africa. Following the sinking of 150 people boarded a raft that drifted for several days, so that eventually saving the ship Argus, retrieves only fifteen survivors. The government is trying to silence criticism of the inadequacy of relief, but two of the survivors, having unsuccessfully sought compensation for the damages suffered, wrote a violent event guide, which caused a sensation throughout Europe. The painting was exhibited not yet completely over to the Saloon of 1819 in which the artist added some for reasons of balance of the composition, the figure in the right foreground, caught in the beams with his head almost submerged by the waves.
Description iconographic
The scene is set on a series of diagonals that converge from the base of the raft several quotes: the tree shaken by the sailor's shirt and on the barrel, and is dominated by two contrary forces: the group to the right of survivors with prosthetic hands outstretched parallel to the uncertain salvation and rejecting the tide of the wreck, with the wind blowing from either the right or left wing swells in the opposite direction. On the unstable raft is invested reddish hues of the sun sinks below the horizon and some red clothing worn by survivors. The composition is shaken by two impulses against, hope and despair, life is death.
compositional analysis
Gericault, large canvas to work on you rent a studio, but it was long undecided which represent each other. Eventually chose one of the less monstrous but more shocking in terms of emotional, the most tense drama, the first sighting by shipwrecked dell'Argus. In the tangle of human bodies avvighiati, Gericault is a gradual crescendo of emotions. In the foreground there is an old man who sits among the dead, as if thinking of something, and behind him a group of men who direct their attention to the point that a horizon Their companion is indicating; other survivors on the ground that they turn around and round trying to get up with difficulty revived by a last hope, others help a black man onto a barrel, so that he can wave his shirt to ask for help manning dell'Argus. Icorpi of the dead and their poses were taken from studies that Gericault had made on cadavers that had managed to get the morgue, they are academic in nature, as beautiful as those of ancient heroes, and although there are hints realistic, such as rags wrapped at the foot of the dead youth on the left, keep the solemn composure of classical figures.
Critical remarks
Gericault ascribed to the condition of the survivors a universal meaning and becomes an episode of the news in a timeless drama forcing the audience to question the perennial problems of heroism, hope, despair and suffering. The painting caused a real scandal among academics, critics and the public, outraged by the "repulsive realism" of the details. The picture was bought by the state and Gericault was simply given a gold medal instead of the first prize. But one had the best reception when it was exhibited in London at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, where a reporter wrote, "the bold hand of the artist has revealed shocking details of events with the severity of the melancholy of a Michelangelo and Caravaggio. "
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