There are sometimes passions that lead straight to death... Théodore Géricault would certainly not have said the opposite. A skilled rider, the romantic painter devoted a true cult to horses, sketching them at all hours of the day and night, racing, hunting, at work, on the battlefield or in the stables. The animal will unfortunately end up being its downfall. In August 1823, Théodore Géricault, aged only 32, fell on Rue des Martyrs and broke his back. Bedridden for the rest of his days, the painter succumbed to his injuries five months later... officially from a fatal deviation of the spine, unofficially from a venereal disease. The legend was born. Two hundred years after his tragic disappearance, the Museum of Romantic Life celebrates the equestrian enthusiasm of the fiery young painter who saw in this animal his primary instinct, the dazzlingness of life and his mortal impulses. Through the masterful selection of a hundred paintings, drawings and sketches, this exhibition highlights the obsessive, fanatical and impetuous character of the most romantic of French painters whose life, short and tormented, seemed to last the time of a frantic race .

Did you know?

In the extremely famous painting of Bonaparte crossing the Great Saint Bernard, one of the most famous equestrian portraits in the history of art, Napoleon was not riding a thoroughbred but... a mule. For obvious reasons of prestige, Jacques-Louis David slightly sublimated reality.