This is a huge painting
by Théodore Géricault and it was done in the 1819, Romanticism period. Nowadays
it is found in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
The painting is capturing a scene of an
important event happened in June 1816, when a tragic ship accident happened.
A ship called Medusa sailed from the
Senegalese port of Saint Louis with three other ships. This ship had been given
by the British to the French king Louis XVII to show good faith. On the ship
there were about 400 people including the crew, the governor and his soldiers.
The captain, a fifty-three year old man had never driven a ship before. After
the ship hit the shore and crashed, the crew went with the life boats and there
weren’t enough for everyone. Then a carpenter managed to build a raft from the remaining
of the ship and one hundred and fifty passengers stayed on it with the hope to
survive but only fifteen of them had survived from the raft.
This painting is an oil
canvas 193 x 282 inches. The painting’s subject is contemporary. It consists of
a lot of different feelings and emotions which the artist has created. Each and
every detail should have a meaning. There is a comparison between man and
nature because of the rough waves of the sea and also depicts the weakness of
people with the strength of nature. As I said before this painting is very
emotional and you can see it from the people which are crying for help and also
shows sadness, weakness, death, anguish and isolation. It is a very dramatic
painting and has a sensitive subject.
The lines in this painting are mixed and
that makes it stressful to look at. It has a very strong contrast between the
light and dark colours. The colour is very appropriate with the scene. There is
also a soft texture in the waves.
Steve Durbin, 2007. Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa (by
Tree) . [online] Available at: http://artandperception.com/2007/10/gericaults-the-raft-of-the-medusa-by-tree.html .
[Accessed 19 February 2014].
Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr.
Steven Zucker, n.d. Géricault's Raft of the Medusa. [online] Available
at: http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/gericaults-raft-of-the-medusa1.html.
[Accessed 19 February 2014].
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