In 1816 the French frigate Méduse ran aground off West Africa. Around 150 people were left on a makeshift raft; after thirteen days, only fifteen were still alive. The scandal shook France.

Géricault was 27. He interviewed survivors, built a model of the raft and studied corpses in the morgue. He painted the moment the survivors spot a ship on the horizon, a tiny speck at the upper right.