Abstract
The Death of Marat, painted in 1793 by J.-L. David, shares its horrible theme, an accidental death in the midst of quotidian life, with the “Disaster Paintings” by the young Andy Warhol. The sights, depicted not as narrative in these works, survive in our mind with bizarre reality; they are “traumatic real” (Hal Foster) images. In The Death of Marat, the body of Marat is fragmented in its appearance; in contrast to the king’s body, the body of a representative of the people should not be perfectly represented. In this way, this tableau for mourning reflects the politics of the Revolution.
