The Raft of the Medusa (Le Radeau de la Méduse, originally titled Scène de Naufragenote ) is a Romantic oil painting by French artist Théodore Géricault.
First, a bit of history. The French Navy frigate Méduse, navigated by an Upper-Class Twit who was given command for political reasonsnote despite his sailing skills being extremely rustynote , was accidentally beached in what is now Mauritania in 1816. The ship wasn't carrying enough lifeboats for all its passengers, so 147 passengers were eventually left adrift in a quickly-constructed wooden raft for almost two weeks. Only 15 survived the ordeal.
The painting depicts a moment after the men have spotted a rescue ship in the distance, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, waves his handkerchief in the air to get their attention. Notably, this coincided with contemporary works that had portrayed people of color positively and growing abolitionist sentiment in Europe.
The Raft of the Medusa is rather large, with most of the figures being at least life-sized. It was completed in 1819, debuted at the Paris Salon that same year, and is presently housed at the Louvre.
Tropes in this painting:
- Artistic License – Biology: Due to the elements of Classicisim Géricault employed (which focused on, among other things, idealized human forms) the passengers are still rather muscular and healthy-looking for people who've been starved and dehydrated for almost two weeks.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Variation. The dead litter the floor of the raft, while the living stand on top of them and raise their arms, hoping to be rescued. This structure shows up in the painting in two "pyramids", one in the foreground and one in the back.
- Chiaroscuro: The painting uses a lot of dark, muted browns to convey the painfulness of the incident, and employs plenty of tenebrism, or the stark contrast between light and dark, to emphasize the dramatic moment.
- Cue the Sun: The foreground of the painting is rather dark. The sunshine in the distance, to which the hopeful passengers are looking, represents the possibility of rescue.
- Lost at Sea: The people in the painting are stuck on a shoddy raft after their frigate sank and hoping a ship will come by and rescue them. Dehydrated and driven to despair, they eventually resorted to cannibalism.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: The real-life Méduse survivors resorted to cannibalizing the corpses of their fellow passengers to survive, and elements of this can be seen in the painting, with bodies and blood floating away in the waves.
- Vehicle Title: The Medusa is a French Navy frigate that suffers a shipwreck. From its scattered parts, the crew assembles a raft, which is what the painting depicts.
- The X of Y: The painting's title is fashioned this way.
