Controversial art work of Theodore Gericault

1. ANATOMICAL PIECES
by Theodore Géricault

2. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

3. Theodore Géricault
September 26 1791- January 26 1824
 He was born under the name Jean-Louis-André-Théodore
Géricault in Rouen, France on 26th of September 1791.
 He was the only child. His parents were wealthy. His
father was a lawyer and his mother’s family was tobacco
growers.
 At age four, his family moved to Paris where he was able
to be educated at prestigious school.
 At age 15 his talent in drawing was recognized and from
there he pursued to study art.

4.  In 1808 he began his first apprenticeship with Carle
Vernet, a Neoclassical painter who shared young
Théodore's fascination with horses.
 He then turned worked in another studio, that of Pierre-
Narcisse Guérin, where he met another young fiery
Frenchman, Eugéne Delacroix. The two would forge a
lasting friendship and mutual admiration, going on to
found the artistic movement known as Romanticism.
 At this time however, Neoclassicism was still all the rage
in Paris, and that is what they studied under Guérin. Both
were also influenced by another painter who bridged the
gap between the two movements, Jean Auguste
Dominique Ingres.

5.  As demonstrated by his earliest major work, The Charging
Chasseur (1812), which depicts an officer astride a rearing
horse on a smoky battlefield.
 Géricault was drawn to the colourist style of the Baroque
painter Peter Paul Rubens and to the use of contemporary
subject matter in the manner of an older colleague, the
painter Antoine-Jean Gros.
 At the Salon of 1814, Géricault’s Wounded Cuirassier shocked
critics with its mournful subject and sombre colours. While in
Florence and Rome (1816–17), he became fascinated with
Michelangelo and Baroque art. His chief project at this time
was Race of the Riderless Horse, a heroic frieze composition
(never completed) depicting a dangerous race that was an
annual event.

6. ARTWORK

7. ANATOMICAL PIECES
 Another controversial artwork made by Gericault is
the anatomical pieces which he made in 1819.
 The medium he used to make the artwork was Oil on
Canvas
 This particular painting shocks a lot of people either
art enthusiasts or ordinary individual because of the
morbidity of the painting.
 The painting shows amputated parts of a dead human
person

9.  During the time Gericault was planning to paint
The Raft of Medusa, he was also becoming
interested in the naturalistic rendering of
distressed anatomy. He then visited morgues
more often. In particular he went to Hospital
Beaujon in Paris.
 At first the purpose of the visits was to sketch the
body parts. But later on, Gericault found beauty
in severed limbs and heads.
 There were programs where local morgues would
lend human remains to art students for
anatomical study.
 Gericault would then bring home arms, legs and
heads where in some accounts, was found under
his bed or on the roof – “so he could continue to

10.  “He delighted in playing the morbid tones of
putrefying flesh against a warm chiaroscuro which
fades into a dark background and seems timeless
and quiet, giving these anatomical fragments a
presence that is almost iconic.”
 they were not sold to collectors, and most
remained in his studio when he died at the age of
32 in 1824, and were offered as lots in his estate
sale.

11. PERSONAL OPINION

12. There is no doubt that his artworks are terrifying and can
be part of art enthusiasts intellectual discussions for ages, as well
as people who happen to saw Gericault’s paintings. Its morbidity
challenge people to critic his style. However, one cannot deny his
brilliance in bringing life to a lifeless subject. The use of colors,
lighting and strokes showed dimensions that made the artwork
live. I think, the idea that these were parts of a dead person is
what makes people uncomfortable. On the other hand, art is a
way of expressing oneself and should be appreciated.
I admired Gericault for being brave and defying the norms
of his times. The depth and use of different angles in his paintings
is remarkable and I can say that he excels at capturing the body
after death. Through a careful and thorough look at the paintings,
it made me appreciate him as an artist because it takes guts to do
an art work that will cause wide range of controversy to the point
one will question your sanity but was still able to deliver.

13. SIMILAR ARTWORKS