BEAUTE DU DESASTRE (LA)

LE RADEAU DE LA MÉDUSE, GERICAULT - COLLECTION PALETTES

of JAUBERT Alain

FRANCE, 2002, 00:30:00

Production : MUSEE DU LOUVRE, PALETTE PRODUCTIONS, SAADOUN Paul, PAINI Dominique, LA SEPT-ARTE, REUNION DES MUSEES NATIONAUX, MUSEE D'ORSAY
Collection : Musée du Louvre
Genre : Documentary
Keyword : Art, History, History of art

Summary :
Choosing key-works in the imaginary of the Western culture, the series called “Palettes” tells in each episode the story of a different painting. In a word, it tells the genealogy of the painting. For a painting has its ancestors and its descendants. A double technical and philosophical knowledge, fed on by a long tradition, gave birth to the painting. And the painting itself gave birth, year after year, to a multitude of other images…
Assuming the idea that the deep meaning of a painting is conveyed by the choice of colours and themes, we dissect the canvas from its most visible composition to its deepest significance.

In June 1816, four French ships left Rochefort to retake Senegal. At the beginning of July, the frigate “La Méduse” sank off Mauritania. The young painter Géricault used this news item, lead a real police investigation, drew all the phases of the sinking, and in less than one year, created one of the greatest paintings of his time. Idolized by some, despised by others, “Le radeau de la Méduse” (The Raft of the Medusa) is a surprising but unclassifiable painting. Wouldn’t it be an excess-monument?