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All photography
© Sylvie Ball
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Théodore Géricault (1791-1824)
The Raft of the Medusa
1819
Oil on canvas
491 x 716 cm
16.11 x 23.49 ft.
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Géricault has chosen a contemporary disaster as the
subject for this painting. In 1816 the frigate Medusa ran aground
off the coast of Senegal. The captain and officers seized the
lifeboats for themselves, leaving 86 people to survive on a single
raft. Only 15 survived. The realistic depiction of the sick
and the dead in the foreground created a lot of controversy. A small
rescue ship (the Argus) can be seen on the horizon. Ingres hated the
painting. Delacroix liked it.
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