Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix | |
---|---|
Born | Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix 26 April 1798 Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Île-de-France, France |
Died | 13 August 1863 Paris, France | (aged 65)
Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
Known for | Painting, lithography |
Notable work | Liberty Leading the People (1830) |
Movement | Romanticism |
Signature | |
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (/ˈdɛləkrwɑː, ˌdɛləˈkrwɑː/ DEL-ə-krwah, -KRWAH,[1] French: [øʒɛn dəlakʁwa]; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.[2]
In contrast to the
However, Delacroix was given to neither sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of
As a painter and muralist, Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the
Early life
Eugène Delacroix was born on 26 April 1798 at Charenton-Saint-Maurice in Île-de-France, near Paris. His mother was Victoire Oeben, the daughter of the cabinetmaker Jean-François Oeben. He had three much older siblings. Charles-Henri Delacroix (1779–1845) rose to the rank of General in Napoleon's army. Henriette (1780–1827) married the diplomat Raymond de Verninac Saint-Maur (1762–1822). Henri was born six years later. He was killed at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807.[6]
There are medical reasons to believe that Eugène's legal father, Charles-François Delacroix, was not able to procreate at the time of Eugène's conception.
His early education was at the
The impact of Géricault's The 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.[11] Two years later he again achieved popular success for his The Massacre at Chios.
Career
Chios and Missolonghi
Delacroix's painting of
The pathos in the depiction of an infant clutching its dead mother had an especially powerful effect, although this detail was condemned as unfit for art by Delacroix's critics. A viewing of the paintings of
Delacroix produced a second painting in support of the Greeks in their war for independence, this time referring to the capture of
Romanticism
A trip to England in 1825 included visits to
These various romantic strands came together in The Death of Sardanapalus (1827–28). Delacroix's painting of the death of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus shows an emotionally stirring scene alive with 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.[16]
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[who?] 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.[original research?]
A variety of Romantic interests were again synthesized in
Liberty Leading the People
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. Less obviously, it also differs from the Romanticism of Géricault, as exemplified by The Raft of the Medusa.
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...[18]
Probably Delacroix's best-known painting, Liberty Leading the People is an unforgettable image of Parisians, having taken up arms, marching forward under the banner of the
Although the French government bought the painting, by 1832 officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view.[20] Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings.[21]
Following the
The boy holding a pistol aloft on the right is sometimes thought to be an inspiration for the Gavroche character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, Les Misérables.[23]
Religious Works
Delacroix painted hundreds of religious works in his lifetime and had a strong interest in Christianity.[24] He had many commissions for religious paintings, including pieces for the Saints-Anges chapel of Saint-Sulpice in Paris.[25] His religious paintings and style would shift drastically depending on the needs of the commission.[26]
Some of his religious works, such as Christ On the Sea of Galilee, had multiple painted versions.[27] Delacroix's Pietà, a painting of the Virgin Mary mourning Christ after his death, was eventually redone by Vincent Van Gogh.[28]
Delacroix reflected on religion through his paintings, and his religious works often show subtle details to Biblical texts.[29] While considered an unbeliever or agnostic, his journal and paintings reveal an openness and receptiveness to spirituality through his art.[30][24]
Travel to North Africa
In 1832, Delacroix traveled to Spain and North Africa in company with the diplomat
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...[18]
He managed to sketch some women secretly in
While in Tangier, Delacroix made many sketches of the people and the city, subjects to which he would return until the end of his life.[33] Animals—the embodiment of romantic passion—were incorporated into paintings such as Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable (1860), The Lion Hunt (of which there exist many versions, painted between 1856 and 1861), and Arab Saddling his Horse (1855).
Musical inspirations
Delacroix drew inspiration from many sources over his career, such as the literary works of William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, and the artistry of Michelangelo. But, throughout his life, he felt a constant need for music, saying in 1855 that "nothing can be compared with the emotion caused by music; that it expresses incomparable shades of feeling." He also said, while working at Saint-Sulpice, that music put him in a state of "exaltation" that inspired his painting. It was often from music, whether the most melancholy renditions of Chopin or the "pastoral" works of Beethoven, that Delacroix was able to draw the most emotion and inspiration. At one point during his life, Delacroix befriended and made portraits of the composer Chopin; in his journal, Delacroix praised him frequently.[34]
Murals and later life
In 1838 Delacroix exhibited Medea about to Kill Her Children, which created a sensation at the Salon. His first large-scale treatment of a scene from Greek mythology, the painting depicts
From 1833 on Delacroix received numerous commissions to decorate public buildings in Paris. In that year he began work for the Salon du Roi in the Chambre des Députés,
The work was fatiguing, and during these years he suffered from an increasingly fragile constitution. In addition to his home in Paris, from 1844 he also lived at a small cottage in
In 1862 Delacroix participated in the creation of the
The winter of 1862–63 was extremely rough for Delacroix; he was suffering from a bad throat infection that seemed to get worse over the course of the season. On a trip to Champrosay, he met a friend on the train and became exhausted after having a conversation. On 1 June he returned to Paris to see his doctor. Two weeks later, on 16 June, he was getting better and returned to his house in the country. But by 15 July he was sick enough to again see his doctor, who said he could do nothing more for him. By then, the only food he could eat was fruit. Delacroix realized the seriousness of his condition and wrote his will, leaving a gift for each of his friends. For his trusted housekeeper, Jenny Le Guillou, he left enough money for her to live on while ordering everything in his studio to be sold. He also inserted a clause forbidding any representation of his features, "whether by a death-mask or by drawing or by photography. I forbid it, expressly."[38] On 13 August, Delacroix died, with Jenny by his side.[39] He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
His house, formerly situated along the canal of the Marne, is now near the exit of the motorway leading from Paris to central Germany.
Selected works
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Mademoiselle Rose, 1817–1824, Louvre
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Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
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Woman with a Parrot, 1827, Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
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Woman With White Socks, 1825–1830, Louvre
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A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother, 1830, Louvre
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The Women of Algiers, 1834, Louvre
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Frédéric Chopin, 1838, Louvre
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George Sand, 1838, Ordrupgaard-Museum
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Jewish Wedding in Morocco, c. 1839, Louvre
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Christ on the Sea of Galilee, 1841, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
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Collision of Moorish Horsemen, 1844, Walters Art Museum
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Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
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Saint George Fighting the Dragon, 1847,Louvre Museum
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Desdemona Cursed by her Father (Desdemona maudite par son père), c.1850–1854, Brooklyn Museum
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1855, Moroccan Saddles His Horse, Hermitage Museum
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Rider Attacked by a Jaguar, 1855.National Gallery in Prague
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The Bride of Abydos, 1857, Louvre
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Shipwreck on the Coast, 1862, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
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Ovid among the Scythians, 1862, version in Metropolitan Museum of Art
Legacy
At the sale of his work in 1864, 9140 works were attributed to Delacroix, including 853 paintings, 1525 pastels and water colours, 6629 drawings, 109 lithographs, and over 60 sketch books.[40] The number and quality of the drawings, whether done for constructive purposes or to capture a spontaneous movement, underscored his explanation, "Colour always occupies me, but drawing preoccupies me." Delacroix produced several fine self-portraits, and a number of memorable portraits which seem to have been done purely for pleasure, among which were the portrait of fellow artist Baron Schwiter, an inspired small oil of the violinist Niccolò Paganini, and Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand, a double portrait of his friends, the composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand; the painting was cut after his death, but the individual portraits survive.
On occasion Delacroix painted pure landscapes (The Sea at Dieppe, 1852) and still lifes (Still Life with Lobsters, 1826–27), both of which feature the virtuoso execution of his figure-based works.[41] He is also well known for his Journal, in which he gave eloquent expression to his thoughts on art and contemporary life.[42]
A generation of impressionists was inspired by Delacroix's work. Renoir and Manet made copies of his paintings, and Degas purchased the portrait of Baron Schwiter for his private collection. His painting at the church of Saint-Sulpice has been called the "finest mural painting of his time".[43]
Contemporary Chinese artist Yue Minjun has created his own interpretation of Delacroix's painting Massacre of Chios, which retains the same name. Yue Minjun's painting was itself sold at Sotheby's for nearly $4.1 million in 2007.[44]
His pencil drawing Moorish Conversation on a Terrace was discovered as part of the Munich Art Hoard.[45]
See also
- Jean Louis Marie Eugène Durieu, friend and photographer
- Orientalism
- Musée national Eugène Delacroix, his last apartment in Paris
References
- ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
- ^ ISBN 1-85437-513-X
- ISBN 0-7148-3355-X
- ^ Clark, Kenneth, Civilisation, page 313. Harper and Row, 1969.
- ISBN 0-8014-9196-7
- ^ Sjöberg, Yves (1963). Pour comprendre Delacroix. Editions Beauchesne. p. 29. GGKEY:021FPT3P5E8. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ "Eugène Delacroix biography". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 14 June 2007. André Castelot (Talleyrand ou le cynisme [Paris, Librairie Perrin, 1980]) discusses and rejects the theory, pointing out that correspondence between Charles and his wife during the pregnancy shows no sign of tension or resentment.
- ISBN 0-399-11022-4.
- ^ "Lycée Pierre Corneille de Rouen – The Lycée Corneille of Rouen". ac-rouen.fr.
- ISBN 978-0691182360)
- ^ a b Wellington, page xii.
- ISBN 9781400887811.
- ^ Wellington, pages xii, 16.
- ^ Jobert, page 127.
- ^ Jobert, page 98.
- ^ "'The Death of Sardanapalus' – Analysis and Critical Reception". artble.com. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ Jobert, pages 116–18.
- ^ a b c d Wellington, page xv.
- ISBN 1588396517.
- ISBN 1588396517.
- ISBN 1588396517.
- ^ "Louvre museum gets a sister". USAToday. 23 December 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
- ISBN 3822859885. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ a b "The Unknown Delacroix: The religious imagination of a Romantic painter". America Magazine. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Delacroix's Works in Paris - Musée Delacroix". www.musee-delacroix.fr. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ISBN 978-1-58839-651-8.
- ^ "Eugène Delacroix | Christ Asleep during the Tempest". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Pietà (after Delacroix) Vincent van Gogh, 1889". Van Gogh Museum. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ Bland, Cynthia (2022). "Inspiration, innovation, and emotion: The early religious paintings of Eugène Delacroix". The University of Iowa ProQuest Dissertations Publishing: 2 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "The Soul of Eugene Delacroix". fslt.ent.sirsi.net. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ Jobert, page 140.
- ^ Baudelaire, quoted in Jobert, page 27.
- ^ Wellington, page xvi.
- JSTOR 737975.
- ^ Jobert, pages 245–6.
- ^ Spector, Jack J. (1985). The Murals of Eugène Delacroix at Saint-Sulpice. Pennsylvania State University Press.
- ^ Wellington, pages xxvii–xxviii.
- OCLC 518099.
He passed anxiously through the winter of 1862–63: the bad season was always dangerous to his vulnerable throat. On 26 May he met a friend in the train to Champrosay, and the conversation exhausted him ... On 1 June he decided to return to Paris to see his doctor ... On 16 June, as he seemed to be better, he went back to the country ... On 15 July he was at the end of his strength: he was brought back to Paris ... and was fed on fruit, the only food he could take. His doctors could do nothing ... Aware of his condition, he dictated his will ... forgetting none of his friends, he left to each of them something to remember him by, to Jenny enough to live on, and ordered all the contents of his studio to be sold. He also inserted a clause forbidding any representation of his features 'whether by a death-mask or by drawing or by photograph. I forbid it, expressly.'
- ^ "Biography". Musée National Eugène Delacroix. Retrieved 24 April 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Wellington, page xxviii.
- ^ Jobert, page 99.
- ISBN 978-2714309990.
- ^ Wellington, page xxiii.
- ^ "New record sale of a Chinese contemporary painting: US$5.9 million". Shanghaiist. 15 October 2007. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
- ^ "Photo Gallery: Munich Nazi Art Stash Revealed". Spiegel. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
External links
- Works by or about Eugène Delacroix at Internet Archive
- Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA – Journal et Correspondance d'Eugène Delacroix
- Eugène Delacroix's biography, context, style and technique
- The National Gallery: Delacroix
- Brief biography at the Getty Museum
- Le musée national Eugène Delacroix (in French)
- A free video documentary about Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People
- Harriet Griffiths & Alister Mill, Delacroix's Salon exhibition record, 1827–1849, Database of Salon Artists, 1827–1850
- "Examination of The Shipwreck of Don Juan". Paintings & Drawings. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
- Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Romanticism & The School of Nature : Nineteenth-century drawings and paintings from the Karen B. Cohen collection, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (see index)
- Jennifer A. Thompson, "Basket of Flowers and Fruit by Eugège Delacroix (cat. 974)"[permanent dead link] in The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works[permanent dead link], a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital publication.