The Raft of the 'Medusa' by Theodore Gericault

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The Raft of the 'Medusa' by Theodore Gericault is considered by many to be one of the greatest paintings of Romantic Art. Here I will discuss Romantic Art, some history behind the painting, the painting in general, and to prove why the first statement is true.
If we are going to call this painting Romantic Art one must first know what it actually is or have some sort of idea what is counted as Romanticism or as something that Romantics would do. Romanticism celebrates the spontaneity and the use of the imagination. Abandoning tradition constraints of the art world to explore new and creative ways of expression. Possibly seen as intuitive individualism and primacy of feeling. Romantics didn't reject reason but though emotions were important to the human experience and were needed for creativity. They sometimes looked to nature, experiences in their time, the exotic, catastrophic, and the fantastic for inspiration.
A major theme in Romantic works was the horrors humans face against natures amazing strength. Often they favored the hero, heroism, and nationalists struggle for indepe...

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