The Raft of the Medusa at the Louvre: Where It Hangs and the True Story

The Raft of the Medusa hangs in room 700, the Salle Mollien, in the Louvre's Denon wing on level 1, the first floor. That was its place on the museum's plan in October 2026. Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People is in the same room, so one stop covers both.

How big it is

The canvas is 4.91 metres high and 7.16 metres wide. Most of the pictures in this room are about events the first viewers had lived through, or nearly: a frigate wrecked in 1816, a massacre in 1822, a revolution in 1830. They are painted at a size that fills the wall, in the style known as French Romantic painting.

The true story

Géricault chose a news story as his subject. On 2 July 1816 the French frigate Méduse ran aground off Senegal. About 150 people were put on a raft that was meant to be towed to shore, but the tow ropes were cut and the raft was left behind. When a ship found it after nearly two weeks adrift, only fifteen were alive.

What to look for

Géricault painted it in Paris in 1818 and 1819. Look at how the figures rise from the dead and dying at the bottom toward the one at the top, waving at a far-off ship. It was shown at the Salon of 1819, in London in 1820 and in Dublin in 1821.

How the Louvre got it

The state would not buy it in his lifetime. After Géricault died in 1824 it was bought at the public sale of his work, for 6,005 francs, on the orders of the royal museums. It has been on permanent display at the Louvre since 1826.

How this fits the Roamer guide

The Raft of the Medusa is on both "The Louvre in 90 Minutes" and "The Louvre in Two Hours" in Roamer's independent audio guide to the Louvre. Open room 700 and play its story, or start a route: the Louvre guide. For the rest of the museum, by wing and room number, read what to see at the Louvre. It is not affiliated with the museum, and admission is separate.

Cover photo: Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).