May 12, 2004
There's a nasty little story behind Géricault's "The Raft of the `Medusa'"
I mentioned to Andy Chen this morning, when I saw him in front of our cancelled chemistry lecture, that I'd actually seen Géricault's The Raft of the `Medusa' on a visit to the Louvre in 1990. Hell, you can't miss it: it's gargantuan. Andy had mentioned yesterday on his blog that his biology teacher had discussed the work in class as a lead-in to a discussion of the urinary tract.
I'd read a bit of the sordid backstory of the tragedy of the Medusa, but never in depth. I just found a fascinating and tragicomic account of the wicked mess of blundering incompetence that inspired this monsterpiece of Romantic painting, an article on History House:
In 1819, when French painter Theodore Ge'ricault first exhibited his dramatic masterpiece, "Scene of Shipwreck" to Paris society, he could little imagine the reaction the painting would receive. Onlookers were fascinated and horrified, rather the way they'd react if they saw a particularly large and hairy spider. The painting is enormous. Sixteen feet high, twenty three feet, six inches wide (about 5x7 m), it depicts a group of desperate men floating on a few planks of wood, trying to get the attention of a tiny little ship on the horizon by waving their shirts around. There was a sordid, true tale behind this raft, and everyone knew what it was. It had taken place three years prior. It involved desperate men, howling stupidity, and cannibalism. And, with the painting looming over them, everyone was talking about it.
I saw this painting at the Louvre several years ago, and I remember that it was enormous and the colors almost evoked a physical sensation of illness when you looked at it. I pulled out my "Your Visit to the Louvre" souvenier and looked it up. Apparently the event depicted wasn't the only scandal. The painting itself was considered scandalous, and anti-monarchy. According to the History House, when the painting was sold, there were competing bids between an Englishman, who wanted the painting to serve as a reminder of the incompetence of the French, and a group of French nobility, who intended to hack it into pieces and sell the individual pieces. The king bought it (with someone else's money, of course), and then donated it to the Louvre.
The artist, Gericault, died a couple of years after painting it, supposedly having never recovered from the effort it required. Remembering it, I can believe it.
Posted by: Bob Tipton on May 13, 2004 9:06 PMI saw it in the Louvre in 1989 and had never heard of it before seeing that. Of all that I saw in the Louvre it was the most memorable and powerfull. Not only is it massive the emotional impact is amazing.
Julian Barnes has written some good stuff on it in his novel "A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters".
Posted by: Bob Stephens on November 23, 2004 2:21 AMthe raft of the medusa if a fascinating painting, i'm 15 and studying gericault for an art project....any info you can give me on him, his paintings or the story behind the painting above would be so helpful and i'd be eternallly grateful. my email is sorrows_call@hotmail.com.
The painter seems to have articulated and interpreted his view of the raft of the medusa amazingly. it potrays sadism, suffering and although this may sound twisted i think it seems to have a kind of twisted beuty interwoven with desperation and all manner of nagativity....please email me.
thanks!
Posted by: mags boggia on May 18, 2005 5:54 AMheyy x
im doing this story as my art gcse and i need the story or any info .
if yuu have any info or websites plz email
amyhubbuck1994@hotmail.co.uk
