Raft Of The Medusa Analysis

Art is meant to capture the viewer’s attention and affect them on a deep level. Many times, it leads the audience to examine human beings at a rudimentary state. In Théodore Géricault’s painting, Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819, Oil on canvas, the viewer does exactly that. In his painting, about 20 men are strewn on a makeshift raft from the remnants of their ship. Some are dead and some are franticly waving pieces of cloth in the air at a ship in the horizon. Each man has an intense look on his face. A strong wind is blowing what is remaining of the sail. The water surrounding them is choppy and dark as is the sky. Géricault uses composition, pose, light/shadow, and color in his artwork to display man’s two responses to chaos: despair or hope. The composition in this painting is not one of stable organization. The bodies of the dead are entangled with those of the living, which produces a very desperate situation. However, the majority of the dead bodies are located in …show more content…
The bodies of the deceased are scattered over the bottom of the piece of wood. Four of the bodies are haphazardly laying on top of the wood and the men that are alive. Their bodies are not stiff, but flexible which allows them to easy entangle whatever they are touching. Only the upper half of one man’s body is visible because the half is crushed between two parts of the broken boat. There are a few men that are still alive that are sitting with the dead. Their bodies are hunched over in defeat and death. Some of those men are turning to gaze at the hopeful men, but one man has his back completely turned towards them. He is only focused on what he sees as his emanate death. The men on the upper right part of the wood are all reaching. The ones on their knees are stretching towards the men standing and waving the cloth in the air. Conclusively, the viewer gets the sense that the men on the upper right side of the painting are reaching for