Eugène Delacroix

Romanticism

He favoured passion, movement and colour over cool lines.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix led Romanticism against the strict Classicism of his rival Ingres: a famous artistic feud.

France

Delacroix was the leading painter of French Romanticism in Paris.

💡 Did you know? Rumours made the diplomat Talleyrand his real father: but it was never proven.

Liberty Leading the People

„Liberty Leading the People“ shows a woman with the tricolour on the barricade: still an emblem of revolution today.

💡 Did you know? The fighting female figure holds the French tricolour.

journey to North Africa

The colours and light there supplied him with subjects for life.

💡 Did you know? His journey to North Africa in 1832 gave Delacroix motifs for decades: the colours and light of the Orient thrilled him.

a model for the Impressionists

Delacroix used pure colours set side by side that merge when seen from afar.

💡 Did you know? His theories of colour later directly inspired the Impressionists like Monet and Renoir.

1863

Delacroix died in Paris in 1863; his home and studio is a museum today.

💡 Did you know? He was a close friend of the composer Chopin.

Liberty Leading the People

Around 1830: Liberty personified with the tricolour on the barricades.

💡 Did you know? The painting still appears on stamps and once featured on the 100-franc note.

Death of Sardanapalus

Painted around 1827.

💡 Did you know? The orgiastic slaughter around the dying king outraged the 1827 public as „too wild.“

The Massacre at Chios

Painted around 1824.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix showed the suffering of the Greeks in their fight for freedom against the Ottomans: political painting.

The Barque of Dante

Painted around 1822.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix's first major work shows Dante and Virgil in Hell: an opening salvo of Romanticism.

The Women of Algiers

Painted around 1834.

💡 Did you know? The glimpse into a harem fascinated Europe: Picasso later made a whole series after this painting.

Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi

Painted around 1826.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix personified suffering Greece as a mourning woman upon the ruins.

Orphan Girl at the Cemetery

Painted around 1824.

💡 Did you know? A study for the „Massacre at Chios“ that became famous as a painting in its own right.

Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople

Painted around 1840.

💡 Did you know? Despite the theme of victory, Delacroix stresses suffering and pillage: not triumph but melancholy.

Woman with a Parrot

Painted around 1827.

💡 Did you know? A sensual female nude that Delacroix painted early in his career.

Portrait of Chopin and George Sand

Painted around 1837.

💡 Did you know? The double portrait of the friends was later cut in two: the halves now hang in different museums.

Jewish Wedding in Morocco

Painted around 1839.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix recorded a ceremony he had witnessed himself on his North African journey.

Last Words of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Painted around 1844.

💡 Did you know? The dying philosopher-emperor hands his realm to an indifferent son: a painting about responsibility.

Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix (1798 to 1863) was the leading painter of French Romanticism, famous for his dramatic, richly coloured history and freedom paintings.

💡 Did you know? Delacroix's experiments with colour so influenced the Impressionists that many revered him as their forerunner.