I tried looking, but the only somewhat trustworthy source I found said that the painting was made by Gericault. Not saying it was, I´d just like to have a reliable source to base my opinion on, if anyone has one
Hey there, I should have absolutely provide sources, especially if I'm going to contradict a lot of the information provided on the internet about this painting. www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/joconde/000PE029857 This is a link to the portrait on the website of France's Ministry of Culture. I'll also include it in the description of the video. Thank you!
@@TheCanvasArtHistory I saw this painting in person at the art museum of the city of Rouen, France. I didn't know much about it, actually I didn't even know it existed but seeing it right in front of me was incredibly powerful and unnerving. It's probably one of my most powerful experience. I truly recommend to go to Rouen (a very beautiful city btw) to see it for real, it's incredible.
To me it seems much darker knowing it was painted by someone else. A close friend painting your sunken face seems much more difficult than painting yourself - at least in my opinion.
And that he was understood. His peers chose to depict his final days in similar styles to his own. For anyone else it would have been more appropriate to paint him looking more healthy but he was always striving for a realistic depiction of death, even when it was unpleasant.
The fact that Géricault's friend painted it lends it a satisfying cyclical quality, that his association with Correard started and ended with a remarkable work of art. And the portrait of the dying Géricault is remarkable in a way that only a man who has been close to death can achieve and, with his experiences on the raft, Correard was very familiar with death indeed. I doubt he felt any hope for his friend, he'd know too well what a dying man looked like. In a previous job, a long time ago, I was privileged enough to share the last moments of life with a number of individuals. The look of dying has been captured perfectly. The tissue paper thin skin, sunken cheeks, hollow eyes and almost fleshless face. Despite this, he looks defiant to my eyes, he almost glares at us from the painting. The Raft of the Medusa was painted to launch Géricault's career and was made to be confrontational and dramatic. This last portrait is no less confrontational but it is a far more sombre affair. It is a momento mori. Correard, no doubt with some encouragement and guidance from his friend, is confronting us with as stark an image of death and dying as you're ever likely to see anywhere. "Here is the great artist, look how low death has laid him, in time it will have you too." But his eyes remain defiant, the Windows to his soul. Death has his body and it will take its due in time but it doesn't have HIM. For me, that's where the hope lies. At the risk of sounding more pretentious than I've made myself sound already, I'm going to quote Shakespeare. "We are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." I'd like to think that there is some trace of us after we pass on, some vestige in the aether of the person we once were. And maybe that's the portion we see in Géricault's eyes, that part of us that death does not hold dominion over. And maybe that's the bit that slips into our last sleep, the distilled essence of who we were, waiting for who knows what?
Pretentious art people are people who try to lower other people or other cultural stuff, like "honhon my hobby is so sophisticated not like your vulgar action videos". You are never pretentious for looking even "too much" into it, and you just gave extra trivia + your point, not pretentious nice comment, thanks
There is another layer to this portrait which is the incredibly daring expressiveness of the brushstrokes and the overall modernist look of it. For a painting in 1824, when academicism with all its strictness was at its height, such a painting, both loaded with emotion and realised with emotion by Corréard, is a masterpiece. We can only imagine what pain Corréard was going through while seeing his friend, to whom he was so greatful, fade out of existence.
I don't know why, but I don't feel absolute horrid looking at this painting. It's strangely... calming, soothing even. As I look into the sunken, tired eyes of the subject, it's like time slowed down for him. At the time of painting, he probably didn't have much life left to live. His time is passing soon. Maybe it's the colors that were used? They're not pastel, fluffy or adorable, but there's a tenderness, an appreciation for something so fragile. There is grief, there is pain, but ultimately, there's appreciation. Somehow, I'm reassured that the moment he breathe his last breath and those sunken eyes close forever, he would be wrap in clean and warm fabric, that he will be taken care of with all the emphasis on the "care".
I feel that way with death playing the fiddle. It's slightly threatening, but I've never seen death as something that terrifying. I think being aware of your own mortality is important and getting to know and, as said appreciate it. I know it's not really what I think my response it will be, but I'd like to imagine that when it all comes to the end for me, I can say I've lived nicely and be able to open my arms for it too.
I remember my grandma had a disease that made her bruise really easily. I once had a nightmare that she had those bruises for eyes and I'm frightened at how similar it looks to the painting on the thumbnail so I just had to check this out.
Makes me think of mozart's requiem. He wrote a mass for the dead while he was dying, and his students had to finish it for him. I believe the Lacrimosa only had a skeleton of it written before he passed, which makes it even more haunting because it was completed by the people who missed him most.
The real story is even more impressive than the internet popularized one, in my opinion. I think that Géricault being painted by Correard has an astonishing symmetry and the fact they were friends it's quite heartwarming.
Brilliant! When I first saw this painting, I always assumed it was about Gericault confronting death in his last days, but now knowing who the true artist was, my opinion has completely changed. It's about memory and grief and surviving. Having watching my own best friend pass away, I can understand the desire to paint the memory. The image of those last moments and the passing are burned in my memory. I can only assume that it was the same for Correard.
This is so interesting. I wrote an essay on the Romantic movement - specifically it’s unusual and interesting approach to the depiction of mental illness - last year, and I’m very surprised that I never came across this haunting portrait. It’s an unusual work, and it’s been very exciting to grasp a deeper insight on it. Wonderful video as per usual!
the fact its a self portrait at first glance is terrifying. How brilliant context is, as i for one wouldn't of came to the same level of empathy & understanding without it.
thank you for your very good pronunciation of the french names. That's something most youtubers don't really give much consideration. So, thumbs up for that!
Wow this takes me back! I used an exposition of Gericaults work for my entrance exam in college, and especially the paintings of the decapitated limbs were gorgeous in person. The last portrait of Gericault especially was very striking because you couldn't help but feel distraught and emotional at the same time. Thanks for the video, more peeps should look into this wonderful artist!
Every art work has a story. The story certainly informs the work and is embedded in it. But great art work gives the viewer a place to stand. Gericault was glossed over in my early art history survey courses. This is revelatory. Thank you. As disturbing as "The Raft" is, what you have been able to do is to broaden the space of time surrounding it and this is huge. Thanks again.
You apparently uploaded this video at the exact time I was trying to remember what the painting "The Raft of Medusa" was called... And then this turns up in my recommended the next day and you mention it! Thanks, although now I'm slightly terrified of you!
In my humble opinion I think it makes it MUCH more interesting that it was NOT a self portrait. Thank you I enjoyed this video very much and instructive
I think it's even more powerful that is was his friend, whose tragedy he depicted first through art, who returned the favor and did the same for him. There's something tragic, yet kind and healing it this.
This painting is very interesting, you see the features of the skull underneath, the eyes, so extremely sunken but bright like gold, the skin..thin and pale. A very interesting composition indeed. There is a certain darkness to how Gericault is looking in the image, how he is looking towards the viewer. Overall I rate it a “Great” on the creepy scale.
Love your videos and this one was no exception, thank you for bringing so many amazing artworks to my attention that I never would have seen otherwise. I hadn't seen this painting before but I think that the fact it was painted by a friend of Géricault and not himself makes it even more interesting than if it were a self portrait. The fact that Correard was willing to paint his friend like this is somewhat telling about the character of the two men and the friendship they had. Surely Correard wouldn't have made so ghastly a painting if he hadn't known that Géricault appreciated the macabre. Because he did know what his friend would or wouldn't appreciate, we get this amazing work of art. Unrelated but what is that music you use in a lot of your videos about darker topics? It's kind of a droning tune with what almost sounds like an "ohm" chant in the background
thank you for this! Stories like this bring the past's humanity, and life struggle and compassion into the present. Living breathing people who were just as passionate about their days as we are of ours, brought to life.
Only looking at the thumbnail before, only when watching did I realise that the portrait did not lack eyes. I'd always look at it and be reminded of the haunting painting of Alexander from Amnesia The Dark Descent. I think it's possible that this portrait could have inspired that, especially since I also thought that there was no mouth, whereas in the case of Gericault it is concealed by his beard, but in the case of Alexander, there is only a gaping hole. I think that it's very touching that Corréard would paint this portrait, it is quite the tale, to survive and be depicted on the raft, and then paint Gericault when he himself wasn't a painter. I also think that painting someone at Death's Door can be more difficult and intense than the ill individual painting himself. To me it also shows that they felt comfortable in each others company even at this point in Gericault's life - though I don't know how much time they would have had to spend together for the painting to be made. Thank you for this video! It's been on my Watch Later list and I appreciate your work making this!
I actually don't care if it's a self-portrait or not. The painting speaks for itself and to me it has a very dark and possessive aura about it. I also want to thank you for your work, in a virtual sea of irrelevance and self-expression your YT channel is a beacon of quality.
I've always loved this painting, when I was in College, a classmate and I had a debate on that, they said it was a portrait of Van Gogh, where I said, I could easily see why thats seen, still wasn't true though I almost wish it was. They had a fairly good argument that they saw Van Gogh painted in a way where he was depicted in a state of total despair and the lack of a visible mouth was a representation of him not being able to fully express his feelings, though the eyes looking directly at the viewer, seem to burrow into your soul in trying to get something across that is just not spoken about... I truly loved the idea, and actually told them to do a portrait of Van Gogh in a style like this or mix this style with Van Goghs, even our painting instructor wanted to see that, but they decided against it, thinking we were being patronizing. Any wanted to share the story. Thank you for the video
I followed the same narrative a lot of people did and just assumed he painted this. I love the painting so much more now with the real context and facts. I got into art because it is a cheap hobby and am now beginning to get obsessed with it. I have many theories on art and why some paintings are more famous than others when clearly they are less skillful than others. It all has to do with trying to capture the minds eye. Everyone's minds eye is different. After learning the information in this video it is incredibly obvious that Gericault did not paint this at all. Super interesting stuff.
as somebody who just stumbled across this video and has very little knowledge of art I personally see the painting is quite morbid which is a surface value considering it’s a dead person, but I feel the idea of it being painted by Gericault as a good way to see how a man can perceive death on himself, yet not know it could be at any point in time, if it was his last portrait it was fitting, a story of sorts, but say it was by Alexandre, then i personally see it not as a homage to him, but as mourning him, he looks austere yet literslly decayed, showing that Gericault died in a prime, solid era in his life, and his friend wanted to represent that in his sadness, as seen by the entire aura of the work
I think the true origin of the painting is far more interesting than the internet myth. I think there is a very sharp irony in this story. Gericault had initially sought out Correard as a source of information on death. Gericault wanted to paint death, and he knew Correard had seen it. A few years later, their roles would be reversed. Now Gericault would meet death, and Correard would document it in a painting. Yet Gericault's encounter would prove to be even more intimate than Correard's had been.
I had a feeling this would come back to the raft and the relationships that came out of it. For further reading on scene of a shipwreck (including examples of the preliminary studies of decay) see lorenz eitner's gericault's 'raft of the medusa' and Albert Alhadeff's 'the raft of the medusa: gericault art and race'. Both can be found in the university of Salford library (strangely), and are worth combining for a fuller picture.
Hey dude great video. Your channel has some great content. It might just be me, but it seems like your audio is distorting at times. My guess is that it's clipping. This is the process of the combined volume of your voiceover and background sounds going over the software's limit, so the sound wave is kind of chopped off. This creates some crunchy, crackly distortion which doesn't sound that good. If you want to get rid of it, you would just have to turn down the background drone, like in the beginning when you say "gericault's first major work". The reason it's clipping even though it might not seem that loud is because low frequencies are perceived more quietly by the human ear than higher/more harsh ones. So even though it's not that loud to us, the computer is processing this massive wave of barely audible low frequencies, which causes the clipping.
I really really like the pose géricault is in in the portrait. The fact that he is looking over his shoulder with a clearly weak and pained face but in his emotions he seems calm and accepting. It looks as if he is walking into the void (death) and briefly glances over his shoulder to look at his friend corréard one last time. It doesn’t seem to me like he’s afraid of death. Merely accepting and understanding. Perhaps because he studied death so carefully in his life
The thing that people with depression or anything else etc will show that symptom or situation out in a way that people will see it(sometimes it's even contradictory). So when I was seeing this planning, in my mind I said "I'm sorry that you had felt this way while living in this world", not to blame myself, but I kinda know that emotion; disgusted, lonely, grievance by this emotion I see the portrait and story, I guess, if I was wrong or whatever, I know this feeling. And I hope one day something will become better both in my days and someone else's.
Based on his other works, it’s not Gericault’s style. It’s very specific and I think it’s stunning in its very personal way. This artist had a lot of talent, bridging Goya to Munch.
While the notion that this isn't a self-portrait changes how I see the painting, the fact that it was painted by a close friend of his makes it a different kind of solemn. If it'd been a person who just met Gericault in passing before he died, I doubt I'd be as attached to it as I am
He kinda looks like van gough. The painting in general seems like such a loving concept. As Gericault painted the engineer's most important moment in his life, so too would the engineer in time do the same.
I don’t take it as darkness. I’m from It’s difficult to explain in non-native language but I feel the greatness of these drawings are to”overcome one’s vanity” kind
This video just made me remember my dead friend Juan from Mexico, one time i was with my girlfriend at his house and he was showing us his portraits, he showed us one in which he was inside of a coffin and looked way too fat so i told him: this doesnt look like you at all. Around one year later his corpse was found bloated down the river after he fell down a waterfall and drowned.
