Pablo Picasso Guernica vs. Theodore Gericault's Raft of the Medusa
For centuries artists have moved audiences through the use of pictures. As time progressed those images became more and more demanding of the viewer until they were meant to invoke a physical response. Perhaps the earliest account of such emotionally exact artwork is the 1818 piece, Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault. As time progressed people became more politically aware and involved and generations of art portrayed this. Pablo Picasso's Guernica, created in 1937, is a great example of how modern times soon saw a peak in the occurrence of allegorical and politically packed artworks. Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa and Picasso's Guernica are both horrifying accounts of the nature of men that aimed to alter a viewer's political perception
The Raft of Medusa, also known as “The Shipwreck Scene”, was a highly criticized piece of art. This piece focused on then recent national scandal of the French naval frigate The Medusa, whose crew was forced to fend on their own aboard a makeshift raft by their aristocratic officers who took the lifeboats. To capture the reality of the piece, Gericault questioned survivors and crew, littered his studio with severed heads and limbs; even going so far as to construct a raft in his workshop.
Gericault did not receive the reaction he expected from critics. The critics were too preoccupied assessing possible political meanings that they neglected the piece's artistic merits. In 1820 Gericault took the painting to Britain where it achieved financial and critic success and allowed his English art career to flourish. From the warm praise he received since the painting hung in the Royal Academy, Gericault gained friends, patrons, and a new inspiration.
The start of the 19th century saw the emergence of a new, more emotional, deeply inflective, and oftentimes mystery form of art, Romanticism. Creating quite a stir at the 1819 Salon competition he attended with The Raft of Medusa, this piece is considered to be the first epic
The Raft of Medusa, also known as “The Shipwreck Scene”, was a highly criticized piece of art. This piece focused on then recent national scandal of the French naval frigate The Medusa, whose crew was forced to fend on their own aboard a makeshift raft by their aristocratic officers who took the lifeboats. To capture the reality of the piece, Gericault questioned survivors and crew, littered his studio with severed heads and limbs; even going so far as to construct a raft in his workshop.
Gericault did not receive the reaction he expected from critics. The critics were too preoccupied assessing possible political meanings that they neglected the piece's artistic merits. In 1820 Gericault took the painting to Britain where it achieved financial and critic success and allowed his English art career to flourish. From the warm praise he received since the painting hung in the Royal Academy, Gericault gained friends, patrons, and a new inspiration.
The start of the 19th century saw the emergence of a new, more emotional, deeply inflective, and oftentimes mystery form of art, Romanticism. Creating quite a stir at the 1819 Salon competition he attended with The Raft of Medusa, this piece is considered to be the first epic