150th Anniversary of the Wreck of the Méduse

The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of present-day Mauritania in July 1816. An improvised raft carrying passengers and crew was abandoned at sea, and most of those aboard died during the ensuing ordeal.
Théodore Géricault later transformed the disaster into The Raft of the Medusa, one of the defining works of French Romantic painting. The painting became a lasting statement about human suffering, survival and official responsibility