ARTWORK/ABOUT:
THÉODORE GÉRICAULT (1791 – 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is The Raft of the Medusa. He was one of the pioneers of the Romantic movement.
Weakened by riding accidents and chronic tubercular infection, Géricault died in Paris in 1824 after a long period of suffering. He was just 32 years old.
THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA (1818–19), depicted the aftermath of a contemporary French shipwreck, Medusa, in which the captain had left the crew and passengers to die.
The incident became a national scandal, and Géricault’s dramatic interpretation presented a contemporary tragedy on a monumental scale.
