The Severed Heads
The realism of Géricault’s study of severed heads is almost unbearable. The artist painted a number of similar images, sometimes of amputated arms and legs. There is presumably a connection with his masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa (Louvre), which shows the dying victims of a shipwreck. These paintings can be seen as studies, a way of getting close to death, with the ultimate aim of being able to depict it as convincingly as possible.
Credit: Gift 1918 by a consortium
Made 1810s
Oil on canvas
50.0 x 61.0cm
NM 2113
Image and text © Nationalmuseum Sweden, 2019
Where you'll find this
Nationalmuseum Sweden
Permanent collection