In 1816 the French frigate Méduse ran aground, and some 150 people were cast adrift on a makeshift raft. Only 15 were still alive when it was found. Géricault interviewed survivors, studied corpses and built a model of the raft to paint the moment a distant ship is sighted.
Look closer
The composition is two pyramids: one of despair, rising to hope in the waving figure at the top.
Looks like this
Compared by a vision model
