Géricault's The Raft Of The Medusa

Without a doubt, Géricault's most famous piece of work is The Raft of the Medusa. Painted with oil paint on a canvas 491 cm x 716 cm (Theodore Gericault, artrenewal.org) and released 1817, The Raft of the Medusa was based off an actual event; in 1816 a French naval Méduse became a shipwreck off the shores of northwest Africa. All but a small fraction of the survivors died before help came to their aid. The members of this survivor group turn to shocking acts, like cannibalism, that left the story covered in shame. Géricault painted this realistic memorial to arouse government negligence, but in no way meant to criticize the government itself. (The J.Paul Getty Museum, getty.edu) In order to get the realistic aspects right, the artist interviewed

As a Romanticist artist, Théodore wanted to emphasize realism in his artwork. He believed that the inner self of one's personality and character could be determined just by the face and overall condition of the person, especially when it came to the dark parts of a human's mind and life. (Meyer, Hektor International) Eventually Géricault was caught up in painting not just this one painting, but many insane people. Nothing specifically can be said about the Woman with Gambling Mania painting, but it had a purpose like all nine others: to show the truth and liberal side of humanity, much as a Romanticist would have wanted. A final piece of artwork Théodore Géricault is well-known for is the 1821 Derby at Epsom. Painted by the year 1821, it was done in oil on a canvas measuring 92 cm x 123 cm. This painting pays an influential tribute to one of Géricault's early teachers, Carle Vernet. Carle Vernet had an obsession with horses and riding scenes. (Artble, artble.com) Clearly, as evident by not just this painting, but many other paintings done by Géricault, some of Vernet's teachings had a lasting on the free-spirited