Théodore Géricault
(Rouen, 1791 - Paris 1824)
Géricault is part of the realist current of Romanticism. His works often deal with themes of everyday life or are linked, as in the case of 'The raft of the Medusa', to episodes from the chronicle of the time
THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA
To enter the atmosphere of this work, let's start with the video of a theatrical reading of a passage from the novel Oceano Mare by Alessandro Baricco. The text takes up the narration of the doctor on board the Medusa ship, Henri Savigny and the geographer Alexandre Corréard in the book Narrative of a trip to Senegal in 1816 .
The Raft of the Medusa is considered the symbolic work of the romantic period. It is an imposing work in front of which it is difficult to remain indifferent. Its dimensions are monumental: almost 5 m high and more than 7 wide: the viewer in front of the painting becomes himself part of that humanity adrift, poised between hope and resignation.
The meaning of the work goes far beyond the news episode from which it was born, but it becomes the symbol of the shipwreck of humanity itself.
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Author: Théodore Géricault
Year of construction: 1818 - 1819
Dimensions: 491 x 716 cm
Technique: oil on canvas
Louvre Museum, Paris
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compares Géricault's work with Carone's boat from Michelangelo's Last Judgment.
In Géricault's work the balance is highly unstable , large space is given to nature which underlines the emotions of the characters . The painting is designed to closely involve the viewer so as not to allow him to remain indifferent to the drama represented.
The chosen theme belongs to the chronicle of the time and the protagonists are not important characters , but the staged story instead embodies the sense of profound instability that the men of this period live on their skin: the man no longer guided in an infallible way by reason, he can fall into the murky abyss of the irrational, from which only a shot of heroic will can redeem him . Even the choice of colors and the drafting technique are functional to describe the chaos of emotions .
Clearly Géricault paints having studied in detail every compositional aspect of his work, but the description of the different elements is, we could say, minutely summary and imprecise , in the sense that Géricault wants to give an effect of naturalness to his painting without getting lost in a cold description . The freedom that runs through his hand, while he paints, is visible above all when he is confronted with the natural elements.
Paradoxically, Géricault's way of painting is closer to reality than Ingres' meticulous one : the truth of solid or rotting wood, of shapeless waves and foam, the truth of earthly bodies that are about to be abandoned by life and of well-rounded muscles. developed for the hard work of the sailors, who strain themselves in an effort to call the distant ship's attention with all the energy left.
The composition of La zattera della Medusa is characterized by two pyramids : the first, on the left, has the vertex in the mast with a sail; it is a pyramid tilted to the left that contains some corpses as well as the seated figure with red cloth and the one in the background with his hands on his face. The second pyramid hinges on the figure of the sailor who waves his shirt in the direction of the rescue ship. At the bottom, the left apex of the pyramid encloses the seated male figure with a blue cloth in his hair and his face turned to the right; all the other 'active' characters are turned towards the tallest and most vigorous figure of the composition and their arrangement dynamically follows the triangular shapes of the faces of the pyramid .
We could say that the pyramid on the left contains resignation, while the one on the right emphasizes hope .
The composition of Géricault's painting is highly dynamic , both for the orientation of the two pyramids and for the great variety of postures and gestures of the individual characters.
In the painting of The Raft of the Medusa, the colors are not well defined ; surely they are not bright and lively, but there is a richness obtained with shades of tones close together. Even the red and blue, which are present in small parts, still appear quite dull.
Géricault's work strikes us for its monumentality and for the strength of the emotions it passes through. We can admire the freedom of the loose technique that derives from having thoroughly investigated each element inserted and the artist's ability to pursue the perfection of the dramatic and engaging effect he wanted to obtain by having the courage to return to the composition over and over again. , sacrificing the solutions gradually conceived until the most effective one is found .