Analysis of Theodore Gericault's "Raft of the Medusa"

Theodore Gericault's “Raft of the Medusa” depicts an actual historic event: A shipwreck that took place in 1816 off the coast of Africa. The French “Medusa” ran onto a reef and 150 of its passengers built a makeshift raft in a desperate attempt to survive. After 12 days at sea, only 15 men remained when the raft was found. Gericault's account is undeniably Romantic, depicting the horror, chaos and emotion of the tragedy.

Line, form, shape, and balance all go hand-in-hand in this painting, which is why I adore it. A jumble of writhing bodies lay on the bottom of the painting. Many of these are corpses, representing the suffering, despair and death the passengers encountered. As the eye moves upward, the painting “comes to life.” From bottom to top, you see death, the struggle to cling to life, and the vibrant attempt to signal rescue by means of a tiny ship sailing in the distance. This scene is arranged in a powerful X-shaped composition. A light-filled diagonal axis crosses from the bodies at the lower left to the man on top of his raft-mates' shoulders waving a piece of cloth. Another axis, dark and shadowy, crosses the opposite side of the painting, descending from the storm clouds clear down to the shadowed upper torso of the body falling out into the sea at the bottom right corner of the painting. Space is compounded by the angular corner of the raft jutting into the lower portion of the painting, with bodies falling into the viewer's lap.

Gericault's use of color is subdued yet striking. He use of tenebrism, or extreme lights and darks, create an eerie, tragic feeling. The lightest lights reflect off of the writhing bodies, struggling to survive. The darkest darks, one can assume, are only covering up more death and destruction. This use of light causes the eye to move from one body to the next. To me, the eye first lands at the bottom of this painting, with bodies falling into your lap. The eye is then drawn upward by the use of light and angularity, until it finally rests of the scene's promise of hope and rescue. All of this incorporates a beautiful balance and focal point.