What shipwreck inspired Géricault's 'The Raft of the Medusa'?

The shipwreck that inspired Géricault’s *The Raft of the Medusa* was the wreck of the French frigate Méduse. The vessel ran aground on a sandbank off the coast of West Africa, near present-day Mauritania, on 2 July 1816.

The Méduse was carrying roughly 400 people as part of a convoy travelling from Rochefort to Saint-Louis in Senegal. Because the ship’s lifeboats could not carry everyone, at least 146 people were placed on a hastily constructed raft. The raft was abandoned or cut loose after only a short distance, leaving its occupants with very limited food and water.

After 13 days at sea, the brig *Argus* rescued the 15 survivors still alive. Accounts of starvation, dehydration, killings, and cannibalism caused outrage in France, especially because the disaster was associated with poor navigation and the appointment of an inexperienced captain during the Bourbon Restoration.

Géricault turned this recent national scandal into a monumental history painting. He researched the event intensely, consulted survivors, and displayed the finished work at the 1819 Paris Salon under the title *Scène de Naufrage*. The painting’s fame made the Méduse disaster an enduring symbol of political failure and human desperation.