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EspañolEUGèNE DELACROIX
(Redirected from Delacroix)
'Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix' (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863) was the most important of the French Romantic painters.[1] Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.
In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival, Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on color rather than highly refined draftsmanship. Eschewing clarity of outline and carefully modeled form, dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic.[2] Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.[3]
However, Delacroix was given neither to sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire:
Delacroix was born at Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Val de Marne ''département'', in the Île de France ''région'' near Paris, France.
There is reason to believe that his father, Charles Delacroix, was infertile at the time of Eugène's conception and that his real father was Talleyrand, who was a friend of the family and successor of C. Delacroix as minister of the foreign affairs, and whom the adult Eugène resembled in appearance and character.[5] Throughout his career as a painter, he was protected by Talleyrand, who served successively the Restauration and king Louis-Philippe, and ultimately as ambassador of France in Great Britain, and later by Talleyrand's grandson, duke of Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III and speaker of the French house of commons.
His early education was at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he steeped himself in the classics and won awards for drawing. In 1815 he began his training with Pierre-Narcisse Guérin in the neoclassical style of Jacques-Louis David, but he was strongly influenced by the more colorful and rich style of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and fellow French artist Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) whose works marked an introduction to romanticism in art.
The impact of Géricault's ''Raft of the Medusa'' was profound, and stimulated Delacroix to produce his first major painting, ''The Barque of Dante'', which was accepted by the Paris Salon in 1822. The work caused a sensation, and was largely derided by the public and officialdom, yet was purchased by the State for the Luxembourg Galleries; the pattern of widespread opposition to his work, countered by a vigorous, enlightened support, would continue throughout his life.[6] Two years later he again achieved popular success for his ''Massacre at Chios''.
Delacroix's painting of the ''Massacre at Chios'' (also called ''Massacre at Scio'', French: ''Scènes des massacres de Scio''), shows sick, dying Greek civilians about to be slaughtered by the Turks. One of several paintings he made of this contemporary event, it expresses sympathy for the Greek cause in their war of independence against the Turks, a popular sentiment at the time for the French people. Delacroix was quickly recognized as a leading painter in the new Romantic style, and the picture was bought by the state. His depiction of suffering was controversial however, as there was no glorious event taking place, no patriots raising their swords in valour as in David's ''Oath of the Horatii'', only a disaster. Many critics deplored the painting's despairing tone; the artist Antoine-Jean Gros called it "a massacre of art".[6] The pathos in the depiction of an infant clutching its dead mother's breast had an especially powerful effect, although this detail was condemned as unfit for art by Delacroix's critics. A viewing of the paintings of John Constable prompted Delacroix to make extensive, freely painted changes to the sky and distant landscape.[8]
Delacroix produced a second painting in support of the Greeks in their war of independence in 1827. ''Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi'' shows a woman in Greek costume with her arms raised in a powerless gesture toward the horrible scene: the suicide of the Greeks, who chose to kill themselves and destroy their city rather than surrender to the Turks. A hand is seen at the bottom, the body having being crushed by the rubble of the city. The whole picture serves as a monument to the people of Missolonghi and to the idea of freedom against tyrannical rule. This event interested Delacroix not only for his sympathies with the Greeks, but also because the poet Byron, whom Delacroix greatly admired, had died there.
A trip to England in 1825 included visits to Thomas Lawrence and Richard Bonington, and the color and handling of English painting provided fresh impetus for the vibrant hues of the Death of Sardanapalus.[9] Delacroix's painting of the death of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus shows an emotionally stirring scene alive with beautiful colours, exotic costumes and tragic events. The ''Death of Sardanapalus'' depicts the besieged king watching impassively as guards carry out his orders to kill his servants, concubines and animals. The literary source is a play by Byron, although the play does not specifically mention any massacre of concubines.
Sardanapalus' attitude of calm detachment is a familiar pose in Romantic imagery in this period in Europe. The painting, which was not exhibited again for many years afterward, has been regarded by some critics as a gruesome fantasy involving death and lust. Especially shocking is the struggle of a nude woman whose throat is about to be cut, a scene placed prominently in the foreground for maximum impact. However, the sensuous beauty and exotic colours of the composition make the picture appear pleasing and shocking at the same time.
Delacroix's most influential work came in 1830 with the painting ''Liberty Leading the People'', which for choice of subject and technique highlights the differences between the romantic approach and the neoclassical style.[10] Probably Delacroix's best known painting, it is an unforgettable image of Parisians, having taken up arms, marching forward under the banner of the tricolour representing liberty and freedom; Delacroix was inspired by contemporary events to invoke the romantic image of the spirit of liberty. The soldiers lying dead in the foreground offer poignant counterpoint to the symbolic female figure, who is illuminated triumphantly, as if in a spotlight.
The French government bought the painting but officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view. Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. He seems to have been trying to represent the spirit and the character of the people,[11] rather than glorify the actual event, a revolution against King Charles X which did little other than bringing a different king, Louis-Philippe, to power.
Following the Revolution of 1848 that saw the end of the reign of King Louis Philippe, Delacroix' painting, ''Liberty Leading the People'', was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Napoleon III. Today, it is visible in the Louvre museum.
The boy holding a gun up on the right is sometimes thought to be an inspiration of the Gavroche character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, ''Les Misérables''.
In 1832, he traveled to Spain and North Africa, as part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco shortly after the French conquered Algeria. He went not primarily to study art, but to escape from the civilisation of Paris, in hopes of seeing a more primitive culture.[11] The trip would influence the subject matter of a great many of his future paintings. Delacroix was entranced by the people and the costumes. He believed that the North Africans, in their attire and their attitudes, provided a visual equivalent to the people of Classical Rome and Greece.[13]
He managed to sketch some women secretly in Algiers, as in the painting ''Women of Algiers in their Apartment'', but generally he encountered difficulty in finding Moslem women to pose for him because of Muslim rules requiring that women be covered. Less problematical was the painting of Jewish women in North Africa, as subjects for the ''Jewish Bride''.
While in Tangier he made many sketches of the people and the city, subjects to which he would return until the end of his life.[14] He eventually produced over 100 paintings and drawings of scenes from or based on the life of the people of North Africa. Animals--the embodiment of romantic passion-- were incorporated into paintings such as ''Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable'', ''The Lion Hunt'', and ''Moroccan Saddling his Horse''.
Eugène Delacroix also illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is also well known for his ''Journals'', in which he expressed his views on art as well as a variety of topics.
Throughout his life Delacroix painted portraits, religious subjects, scenes from history and scenes from literature. Despite the centrality of the figure in his work, his occasional flower pieces and landscapes are outstanding. Among his notable paintings of friends was a double portrait of the composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand; the painting was subsequently cut, but the individual portraits survive.
In 1862 Delacroix participated in the creation of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. His friend, the writer Théophile Gautier, became chairman, with the painter Aimé Millet acting as deputy chairman. In addition to Delacroix, the committee was composed of the painters Carrier-Belleuse and Puvis de Chavannes. Among the exhibitors were Léon Bonnat, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Charles-François Daubigny, Gustave Doré, and Edouard Manet. Just after his death in 1864, the society organized a retrospective exhibition of 248 paintings and lithographs by Delacroix- and ceased to mount any further exhibitions.
Eugène Delacroix died in Paris, France and was buried there in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
His house, formerly situated along the canal of the Marne, is now near the exit of the motorway leading from Paris to central Germany.
★ ''Jacob Wrestling with the Angel'', the name given to at least three different major paintings, including one (1861) by Eugène Delacroix.
★ Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, friend, colleague, and photographer
★ History of painting
★ Western painting
1. Delacroix, Eugène Encyclopædia Britannica
2. Gombrich, E.H., ''The Story of Art'', page 504-6. Phaidon Press Limited, 1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-x
3. Clark, Kenneth, ''Civilisation'', page 313. Harper and Row, 1969.
4. Wellington, Hubert, ''The Journal of Eugène Delacroix'', introduction, page xiv. Cornell University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-8014-9196-7
5. Eugène Delacroix biography
6. Wellington, page xii.
7. Wellington, page xii.
8. Wellington, pages xii, 16.
9. Wellington, page xiii.
10. Less obviously, it also differs from the Romanticism of Géricault and the ''Raft of the Medusa'', for "Delacroix felt his composition more vividly as a whole, thought of his figures and crowds as types, and dominated them by the symbolic figure of Republican Liberty which is one of his finest plastic inventions..." Wellington, page xv.
11. Wellington, page xv.
12. Wellington, page xv.
13. "The Greeks and Romans are here at my door, in the Arabs who wrap themselves in a white blanket and look like Cato or Brutus..." Wellington, pages xv-xvi.
14. Wellington, page xvi.
★ Brief biography at the Getty Museum
★ Le musée national Eugène Delacroix
★ Delacroix at Web Gallery of Art
★ Delacroix at ''Web Museum''
★ Examination of The Shipwreck of Don Juan
'Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix' (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863) was the most important of the French Romantic painters.[1] Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.
In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival, Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on color rather than highly refined draftsmanship. Eschewing clarity of outline and carefully modeled form, dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic.[2] Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.[3]
However, Delacroix was given neither to sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire:
''"Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible."'' [4]
Early life
Delacroix was born at Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Val de Marne ''département'', in the Île de France ''région'' near Paris, France.
There is reason to believe that his father, Charles Delacroix, was infertile at the time of Eugène's conception and that his real father was Talleyrand, who was a friend of the family and successor of C. Delacroix as minister of the foreign affairs, and whom the adult Eugène resembled in appearance and character.[5] Throughout his career as a painter, he was protected by Talleyrand, who served successively the Restauration and king Louis-Philippe, and ultimately as ambassador of France in Great Britain, and later by Talleyrand's grandson, duke of Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III and speaker of the French house of commons.
His early education was at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he steeped himself in the classics and won awards for drawing. In 1815 he began his training with Pierre-Narcisse Guérin in the neoclassical style of Jacques-Louis David, but he was strongly influenced by the more colorful and rich style of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and fellow French artist Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) whose works marked an introduction to romanticism in art.
The impact of Géricault's ''Raft of the Medusa'' was profound, and stimulated Delacroix to produce his first major painting, ''The Barque of Dante'', which was accepted by the Paris Salon in 1822. The work caused a sensation, and was largely derided by the public and officialdom, yet was purchased by the State for the Luxembourg Galleries; the pattern of widespread opposition to his work, countered by a vigorous, enlightened support, would continue throughout his life.[6] Two years later he again achieved popular success for his ''Massacre at Chios''.
Maturity
''Chios'' and ''Missolonghi''
''Massacre at Chios'' (1824, Louvre)
Delacroix's painting of the ''Massacre at Chios'' (also called ''Massacre at Scio'', French: ''Scènes des massacres de Scio''), shows sick, dying Greek civilians about to be slaughtered by the Turks. One of several paintings he made of this contemporary event, it expresses sympathy for the Greek cause in their war of independence against the Turks, a popular sentiment at the time for the French people. Delacroix was quickly recognized as a leading painter in the new Romantic style, and the picture was bought by the state. His depiction of suffering was controversial however, as there was no glorious event taking place, no patriots raising their swords in valour as in David's ''Oath of the Horatii'', only a disaster. Many critics deplored the painting's despairing tone; the artist Antoine-Jean Gros called it "a massacre of art".[6] The pathos in the depiction of an infant clutching its dead mother's breast had an especially powerful effect, although this detail was condemned as unfit for art by Delacroix's critics. A viewing of the paintings of John Constable prompted Delacroix to make extensive, freely painted changes to the sky and distant landscape.[8]
''Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi'' (1827, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux)
Delacroix produced a second painting in support of the Greeks in their war of independence in 1827. ''Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi'' shows a woman in Greek costume with her arms raised in a powerless gesture toward the horrible scene: the suicide of the Greeks, who chose to kill themselves and destroy their city rather than surrender to the Turks. A hand is seen at the bottom, the body having being crushed by the rubble of the city. The whole picture serves as a monument to the people of Missolonghi and to the idea of freedom against tyrannical rule. This event interested Delacroix not only for his sympathies with the Greeks, but also because the poet Byron, whom Delacroix greatly admired, had died there.
''Death of Sardanapalus''
''Death of Sardanapalus'' (1827, Louvre)
A trip to England in 1825 included visits to Thomas Lawrence and Richard Bonington, and the color and handling of English painting provided fresh impetus for the vibrant hues of the Death of Sardanapalus.[9] Delacroix's painting of the death of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus shows an emotionally stirring scene alive with beautiful colours, exotic costumes and tragic events. The ''Death of Sardanapalus'' depicts the besieged king watching impassively as guards carry out his orders to kill his servants, concubines and animals. The literary source is a play by Byron, although the play does not specifically mention any massacre of concubines.
Sardanapalus' attitude of calm detachment is a familiar pose in Romantic imagery in this period in Europe. The painting, which was not exhibited again for many years afterward, has been regarded by some critics as a gruesome fantasy involving death and lust. Especially shocking is the struggle of a nude woman whose throat is about to be cut, a scene placed prominently in the foreground for maximum impact. However, the sensuous beauty and exotic colours of the composition make the picture appear pleasing and shocking at the same time.
''Liberty Leading the People''
''Liberty Leading the People'' (1830, Louvre)
Delacroix's most influential work came in 1830 with the painting ''Liberty Leading the People'', which for choice of subject and technique highlights the differences between the romantic approach and the neoclassical style.[10] Probably Delacroix's best known painting, it is an unforgettable image of Parisians, having taken up arms, marching forward under the banner of the tricolour representing liberty and freedom; Delacroix was inspired by contemporary events to invoke the romantic image of the spirit of liberty. The soldiers lying dead in the foreground offer poignant counterpoint to the symbolic female figure, who is illuminated triumphantly, as if in a spotlight.
The French government bought the painting but officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view. Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. He seems to have been trying to represent the spirit and the character of the people,[11] rather than glorify the actual event, a revolution against King Charles X which did little other than bringing a different king, Louis-Philippe, to power.
Following the Revolution of 1848 that saw the end of the reign of King Louis Philippe, Delacroix' painting, ''Liberty Leading the People'', was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Napoleon III. Today, it is visible in the Louvre museum.
The boy holding a gun up on the right is sometimes thought to be an inspiration of the Gavroche character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, ''Les Misérables''.
Travel to North Africa
Sultan of Morocco
In 1832, he traveled to Spain and North Africa, as part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco shortly after the French conquered Algeria. He went not primarily to study art, but to escape from the civilisation of Paris, in hopes of seeing a more primitive culture.[11] The trip would influence the subject matter of a great many of his future paintings. Delacroix was entranced by the people and the costumes. He believed that the North Africans, in their attire and their attitudes, provided a visual equivalent to the people of Classical Rome and Greece.[13]
He managed to sketch some women secretly in Algiers, as in the painting ''Women of Algiers in their Apartment'', but generally he encountered difficulty in finding Moslem women to pose for him because of Muslim rules requiring that women be covered. Less problematical was the painting of Jewish women in North Africa, as subjects for the ''Jewish Bride''.
While in Tangier he made many sketches of the people and the city, subjects to which he would return until the end of his life.[14] He eventually produced over 100 paintings and drawings of scenes from or based on the life of the people of North Africa. Animals--the embodiment of romantic passion-- were incorporated into paintings such as ''Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable'', ''The Lion Hunt'', and ''Moroccan Saddling his Horse''.
Other
Delacroix 's tomb in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Eugène Delacroix also illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is also well known for his ''Journals'', in which he expressed his views on art as well as a variety of topics.
Throughout his life Delacroix painted portraits, religious subjects, scenes from history and scenes from literature. Despite the centrality of the figure in his work, his occasional flower pieces and landscapes are outstanding. Among his notable paintings of friends was a double portrait of the composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand; the painting was subsequently cut, but the individual portraits survive.
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
In 1862 Delacroix participated in the creation of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. His friend, the writer Théophile Gautier, became chairman, with the painter Aimé Millet acting as deputy chairman. In addition to Delacroix, the committee was composed of the painters Carrier-Belleuse and Puvis de Chavannes. Among the exhibitors were Léon Bonnat, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Charles-François Daubigny, Gustave Doré, and Edouard Manet. Just after his death in 1864, the society organized a retrospective exhibition of 248 paintings and lithographs by Delacroix- and ceased to mount any further exhibitions.
Eugène Delacroix died in Paris, France and was buried there in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
His house, formerly situated along the canal of the Marne, is now near the exit of the motorway leading from Paris to central Germany.
Gallery
See also
★ ''Jacob Wrestling with the Angel'', the name given to at least three different major paintings, including one (1861) by Eugène Delacroix.
★ Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, friend, colleague, and photographer
★ History of painting
★ Western painting
References
1. Delacroix, Eugène Encyclopædia Britannica
2. Gombrich, E.H., ''The Story of Art'', page 504-6. Phaidon Press Limited, 1995. ISBN 0-7148-3355-x
3. Clark, Kenneth, ''Civilisation'', page 313. Harper and Row, 1969.
4. Wellington, Hubert, ''The Journal of Eugène Delacroix'', introduction, page xiv. Cornell University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-8014-9196-7
5. Eugène Delacroix biography
6. Wellington, page xii.
7. Wellington, page xii.
8. Wellington, pages xii, 16.
9. Wellington, page xiii.
10. Less obviously, it also differs from the Romanticism of Géricault and the ''Raft of the Medusa'', for "Delacroix felt his composition more vividly as a whole, thought of his figures and crowds as types, and dominated them by the symbolic figure of Republican Liberty which is one of his finest plastic inventions..." Wellington, page xv.
11. Wellington, page xv.
12. Wellington, page xv.
13. "The Greeks and Romans are here at my door, in the Arabs who wrap themselves in a white blanket and look like Cato or Brutus..." Wellington, pages xv-xvi.
14. Wellington, page xvi.
External links
★ Brief biography at the Getty Museum
★ Le musée national Eugène Delacroix
★ Delacroix at Web Gallery of Art
★ Delacroix at ''Web Museum''
★ Examination of The Shipwreck of Don Juan
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