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Delacroix, E

Eugène Delacroix

 

Achievements: New use of color

Born: April 26, 1798; Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France

Died: August 13, 1863; Paris, France (Aged 65)

Field & Discipline: Art; Painter

Language: French

Father: Charles Delacroix

Mother: Victoire Oeben

Siblings: Charles; Henri; Henriette

Spouse: None

Children: None

Education: Lycee Imperial, Paris; Ecole des Beaux Arts

Major Works:

“Dante and Virgil in Hell” (1822)

“Massacre at Chios” (1824)

“Death of Sardanopoulos” (1827)

“Liberty Leading the People” (1831)

“Self-Portrait” (1837)

“Women of Algiers in their Apartment” (1834)

“The Lion Hunt” (1854-55)

Life & Times:

There was speculation during Delacroix’s life that he was the natural son of the politician [maybe illegitimate son of] Talleyrand* and this remains a mystery.  At the age of ten he decided to be a painter after being overwhelmed by the color in [influenced by] Veronese’s* “Marriage at Cana” in the Louvre.

In 1815 Delacroix was apprenticed to the traditional academic painter Pierre-Narcisse Guerin. From 1816, he attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts and survived on meagre funds. His first commission was to paint “The Virgin of the Harvest” for the church at Orcemont, near Rambouillet in 1819.  A year later, came a government commission for a painting for the cathedral at Nantes (“The Triumph of Religion”, now in Ajaccio Cathdral). 

Delacroix’s first appearance at the Paris Salon was with his “Dante and Virgil in Hell” (1822). The painting, regarded as his first masterpiece, was bought by the government for the Louvre. In 1823 Delacroix decided he wanted to paint something to commemorate the Greek War of Independence, which had aroused the passion of Romantics across Europe. He chose to paint a representation of the massacre of the Greeks by the Turks on the island of Chios.  While he engaged on this work he heard of the death of his mentor Gericault and also saw paintings by the English landscape artist [influenced by] Constable*,  whose influence is apparent in the finished work “Massacre at Chios” which he exhibited in 1824. Delacroix had great admiration for contemporary English painters and in 1825 he visited England where he shared a studio with Richard Parkes Bonington and met Constable and [met] Turner*. He remained attracted to the English school all his life and at the Paris Exhibition of 1853 he praised [a fan of] Millais’s* “Order of Release.” 

At the Paris Salon in 1827 he exhibited “Death of Sardanapalus”, a painting which is seen as embodying his most extreme example of Romanticism. His colors were brilliant, his brushwork was vigorous and his composition dynamic. The painting depicts violence and sexuality in a dramatic manner and Delacroix was warned by the minister of fine arts to rein in his enthusiasms if he wanted to continue receiving government commissions.

Delacroix was part of a circle of artists and writers who gathered regularly at the home of Charles Nodier, the librarian at the Arsenal. He numbered among his friends the poets [a pal of] De Vigny*, [a pal of] de Musset* and the writers [a pal of] Merimee* and [a pal of] Stendhal*. Virtually all the romantic intellectuals supported the July 1830 uprising which overthrew the reactionary Bourbon regime and in 1831 Delacroix painted “Liberty Leading the People”. It was a more realistic painting in which Delacroix showed soldiers, workers and students united in the cause of liberty.

He was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the new government and in 1832  invited to accompany an embassy to Spain, Morocco and Algeria. This visit further stimulated his love of color and on his return to France he executed several paintings in which the brilliance and warmth of his palette reflect his romantic view of the Arab world. “Women of Algiers in their Apartment” (1834) was inspired by a secretly arranged visit to a harem and the poet [an admirer was] Baudelaire* praised Delacroix for his sensuous use of color and for expressing the “moral suffering” of the women. Delacroix continued to paint  North African-inspired subjects for the rest of his life, among which are “Fanatics of Tangier” (1838) and “Jewish Wedding in Morocco” (1839).

He occasionally painted portraits of  friends, including the writer [painted his friend] Georges Sand* and the musician [painted his friend] Chopin* whose music Delacroix adored. Chopin, unfortunately, although loving Delacroix as a friend, detested his art. Delacroix was passionate about music and also made friends with the composer [a pal of] Gounod* and with Elie Halevy who wrote the opera “Les Juives” and was a member of the same family who later supported the artist [supported] Degas*.

Delacroix received many important government commissions, among which were the ceiling decorations in the Library of the Chamber of Deputies at the Bourbon Palace (1838-47), the Library of the Peers in the Luxembourg Palace (1841-47), the ceiling of the Apollo Gallery in the Louvre (1850) and the Salon of Peace at the Hotel de Ville (1849-53). In spite of these large-scale public works, Delacroix was regarded with suspicion by the traditionalists and failed in his attempt to be elected to the Academy.  In 1848 he attended a series of lectures given by the scientist [lectured by] Chevreul* who had introduced the idea of color contrast. Naturally, Delacroix was interested because he had been employing this technique himself in defiance of the orthodox method of color harmony by blending adjacent tones. 

In 1855 he was given a retrospective at the Paris Exhibition, awarded the Grand Medal of Honor and made commander of the Legion d’Honneur. In 1857, at his eighth attempt, he was elected to the Academy. In the same year, he moved back to his old studio in the rue Jacob where [worked next to] Monet* could see him from a nearby apartment and was amazed to see that Delacroix drew figures in action, allowing the model to move freely around the studio.

Delacroix’s later studio paintings included classical, religious and North African subjects, as well as several animal paintings inspired by his attraction to the movement and color of tigers, panthers, jaguars and lions. Some of these paintings, such as “Lion devouring a Reptile” and “Lion Hunt” (1858) were savage but “Puma” (1859) is one of his most beautiful paintings.  When Delacroix died in 1863 Baudelaire and the artists [a fan was] Manet* and Henri Fantin-Latour* were dismayed by the poor attendance at his funeral, and the official oration by an Academician was lukewarm. However, at the beginning of the next century Delacroix was included by [painted by] Cormon* in a mural depicting distinguished French figures, and his influence was warmly acknowledged by many nineteenth century artists including [influenced] Renoir*,  [influenced] Cezanne*, [influenced] van Gogh* and [influenced] Signac*.

Extra Connections:  He was a fan of the tragedian [a fan of] Macready*

 Painted Virgil.

Assessment: Delacroix was a leader of the Romantic movement in the visual arts and his use of color was an inspiration to artists who followed him.

Oneliner: Eugene Delacroix,  leading Romantic painter

Bibliography:

Wikipedia