1810 -1824 · Individual, monomaniacs and romantic gaze

Géricault paints soldiers, relatives and patients with unappearing intensity: the famous monomaniacs confront individual presence and the history of psychiatry.

Théodore Géricault's portrait covers private models, soldiers, foreigners and an exceptional series of patients long referred to as "monomaniacs". Portrait of a man known as the Vendéen retains an uncertain identity but a very direct presence. Zoé and Adam Elmore belong to the artist's English circle and show a more personal relationship. Monomaniacs, probably painted for the doctor Étienne-Jean Georget, were associated with the theory according to which a mental pathology could concentrate on a fixed idea: command, child theft, gambling, envy or theft. Historical titles reflect this 19th century medical framework and must be handled with caution. Géricault does not, however, make physiognomonic caricatures. Clothing, dark background and gaze give each person a dignity and complexity that goes beyond diagnosis. These portraits extend his interest in vulnerable bodies and marginalized lives, while requiring a critical reading of their institutional context. The selection "Portraits of Théodore Géricault" notably compares Portrait of a Man, known as the Vendéen, and The Monomaniac of Military Command. His reading favors composition.

Géricault's monomaniacs resist their medical titles: each face remains more complex than the category supposed to explain it.