Gail Reid
The Raft Of The Medusa, 2025
Oil on canvas
165 x 235 x 4
Copyright The Artist
'This painting is based on Théodore Géricault’s 19th Century epic “The Raft Of The Medusa”. I have kept the fundamental structure, many details, and the gesture of many figures. I...
"This painting is based on Théodore Géricault’s 19th Century epic “The Raft Of The Medusa”.
I have kept the fundamental structure, many details, and the gesture of many figures. I have replaced the original figures with ones describing common experiences of women, as they re-occur across time, cultures, and locations. I used friends and family to model, plus excerpts from several well known paintings by historic women artists. The humanoid robot reference was generated using AI. The rugby is a moment from the 2022 World Cup final (licensed from the photographer).
The figure delivering the baby is a self portrait in my painting apron. The piece as a whole is a self portrait of womankind.
The whole process (from early sketches through to varnishing) is available to watch as a playlist on my YouTube channel."
I have kept the fundamental structure, many details, and the gesture of many figures. I have replaced the original figures with ones describing common experiences of women, as they re-occur across time, cultures, and locations. I used friends and family to model, plus excerpts from several well known paintings by historic women artists. The humanoid robot reference was generated using AI. The rugby is a moment from the 2022 World Cup final (licensed from the photographer).
The figure delivering the baby is a self portrait in my painting apron. The piece as a whole is a self portrait of womankind.
The whole process (from early sketches through to varnishing) is available to watch as a playlist on my YouTube channel."