Delacroix exhibit banners outside the Louvre Museum
Spiral stairway down to the lower level underneath the pyramid
Lower level of the Louvre
On the column is the artwork of Kohei Nawa, “Throne,” entirely covered with gold leaf. Nawa’s inspiration was from the shapes and origins of floats used in Eastern religious festivals.
A closer look at “Throne,” a temporary exhibit at the Louvre
“Throne” is displayed as part of the Japonisms 2018: souls in harmony cultural season at the Louvre.
Mural on the way to the Delacroix exhibit
Ticket office and gift shop for the Delacroix exhibit
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) was a French artist regarded as the leader of the French Romantic movement, which glorified individualism, imagination, and emotions. Romanticism was a reaction against the order and restraint of classical Greek and Roman art. Delacroix created epic interpretations of scenes from literature, mythology, religion, politics and history, all the while using extraordinary colors and focusing on movement, dramatic conflicts, and sometimes even violence.
Delacroix self-portrait
Liberty Leading the People (1830, 8 ½’ high x 10 ½’ wide--think about the size!)
Delacroix's best-known painting, Liberty Leading the People, is an image of Parisians who have taken up arms and marched under the banner of the tricolor representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. The 1830 revolution against Charles X only brought a different king, Louis-Philippe, to power. The citizen-soldiers lying dead in the foreground offer a stark contrast to “Marianne,” the symbolic female figure of France, who has the French flag in one hand and a bayonet in the other.
Detail from Liberty Leading the People
Although the French government bought the painting, officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view. It was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III).
Massacre at Chios (1824, 13.6’ H x 11 ½’ W--another wall-size painting)
Although the French government bought the painting, officials deemed its glorification of liberty too inflammatory and removed it from public view. It was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III).
Massacre at Chios (1824, 13.6’ H x 11 ½’ W--another wall-size painting)
The Massacre at Chios portrays the destruction and despair in the Greek fight for independence from Turkey. It is a grim portrayal of the massacre of 20,000 civilians on the Island of Chios by Ottoman soldiers in April of 1822. (FYI: Chios is the 5th largest of the Greek Islands)
Detail of Massacre at Chios
Detail of Massacre at Chios
Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1826, 17 ½’ H x 12.2”W)
“Greece” is depicted as a kneeling woman who is wearing a traditional Greek costume. She spreads her arms as a sign of sadness. This painting was inspired by the Third Siege of Missolonghi by Turkish troops in 1826, during which many people of the city, after the long-time siege (almost a year), attempted a mass breakout to escape famine and epidemics. The attempt resulted in a disaster, with most of the Greeks slain. Delacroix, like many European artists and intellectuals, was a fervent supporter of the Greek cause.
Horse Frightened by the Storm (1824)
A horse frightened by the lightning rears up in a storm. Delacroix’s use of color and brush strokes convey the reaction of the panic-stricken horse.
A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother (1830)
Roaring Lion’s Head (1833-35)
The Death of Sardanapalus (1827 was the original. This is the 1844 version.)
The Moroccan Woman (1821-24)
The second work was painted fifteen years later, between 1847 and 1849. The two works both depict the same scene of four women together in an enclosed room. Despite the similar setting, the earlier painting separates the women from the viewer, and the second painting draws the viewer into the scene by means of the sultry look and posture of the woman in the foreground.
During his trip, Delacroix was invited into Jewish households to sketch. His journal recounts in detail the clothing, interior décor, and festivities of the Jewish households. From these he later painted Jewish Wedding in Morocco.
Sardanapalus was a legendary king of Assyria who ordered a sacrificial pyre to be built to atone for the shame of a military defeat. After ordering the massacre of all his women, slaves, and horses, he broods, emotionless, among his intended victims. Around him, his naked slaves are being murdered, and his possessions are being destroyed. At last, he will be burned to death on the pyre. It takes a minute to make sense of the chaos of this painting. You see the king and his mistress, unconscious on the bed, the black slave pulling at the white horse on the left, the naked woman being stabbed by the man on the right. Despite the powerful colors and drama of the scene, it was not well received by critics because it went against neoclassical traditions.
Detail of The Death of Sardanapalus
Nude Woman on Divan (1830)
Reclining Woman with a Parrot (1827)
Nude Seated (Mlle Rose - 1824)
The Battle of Nancy (1828-1833, 7 ¾’ H x 11.4’ W)
The Battle of Nancy was the result of the first official commission the artist ever received, in September, 1828. The battle was fought outside the walls of Nancy on January 5, 1477, by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, against René II, Duke of Lorraine, and the Swiss Confederacy. René's forces won the battle, and Charles' mutilated body was found three days later. Delacroix’s battle scene, carefully researched by the artist, is tumultuous and violent. Charles the Bold disappears into the frame of the picture at the far left, much as he disappeared from the political scene.
Detail of The Battle of Nancy - Charles the Bold (L) and a Swiss knight
Detail of The Battle of Nancy
The Moroccan Woman (1821-24)
Young Orphan Girl in the Cemetery (1824)
The Young Orphan Girl features the image of a young girl looking upwards toward the sky with tear-filled eyes. She appears to be all alone in the world and possibly searching for someone to help her in her time of need.
Combat of the Giaour and Pasha Hassan (1826)
Oriental and exotic subjects of early 19th century authors inspired Romantic painters. From a poem by Lord Byron, the painting portrays a duel between the Giaour (non-Muslim) and the Turkish Pasha Hassan.
Detail of Combat of the Giaour and Pasha Hassan
Delacroix had always had an attraction for the East. In 1832, when Count Charles de Mornay, a French diplomat, offered him the opportunity to go on a diplomatic mission for 6 months to North Africa to take part in the visit to Sultan Moulay Abd Al-Rahman, he agreed. The trip had a lifelong effect on Delacroix and gave him an inexhaustible source of sketches and lasting inspiration for his work. The most immediate result was Women of Algiers in Their Apartment.
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment ( 1834, 5.9’ H x 7.5’W)
Delacroix's first version of Women of Algiers was painted in Paris in 1834. In Algiers, Delacroix paid a secret visit to a harem. The authenticity of the accessories, attitudes, costumes, decoration, and atmosphere—all sketched and noted during the painter’s visit-- made this the first masterpiece as a result of his journey to North Africa.
Detail of Women of Algiers in Their Apartment
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1849)
The second work was painted fifteen years later, between 1847 and 1849. The two works both depict the same scene of four women together in an enclosed room. Despite the similar setting, the earlier painting separates the women from the viewer, and the second painting draws the viewer into the scene by means of the sultry look and posture of the woman in the foreground.
Detail of Women of Algiers in Their Apartment
A Jewish Wedding in Morocco (1841)
During his trip, Delacroix was invited into Jewish households to sketch. His journal recounts in detail the clothing, interior décor, and festivities of the Jewish households. From these he later painted Jewish Wedding in Morocco.
Detail of A Jewish Wedding in Morocco
Still Life with a Lobster (1830)
Medea (1838)
This painting refers to a mythical character from Greek legend. Medea, abandoned and betrayed by Jason, wreaks terrible vengeance by slaughtering their children. The subject is taken from Euripides' tragedy, Medea.
Shipwreck of Don Juan (1840)
Delacroix was inspired to create this painting by Lord Byron’s poem, “Don Juan” in which survivors of a shipwreck draw lots to decide who must sacrifice his life to feed the others.
Detail of Shipwreck of Don Juan
The deadly lottery is taking place.
Cleopatra and the Peasant (1839)
There was an increase in Christian themes in the final period of Delacroix's career. "I was much impressed by the Requiem Mass," he wrote in his Journal (Nov. 2, 1854). "I thought of all that religion has to offer the imagination, and at the same time of its appeal to man's deepest feelings.
The Entombment of Christ (1848)
Detail of The Entombment of Christ
Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra” inspired this painting. Cleopatra, captured by the Romans, faces humiliation, degradation, and belittlement as she sits in her chamber. Her love, Antony, has fallen at the hand of Caesar, while she waits captive. The peasant has brought Cleopatra a basket of figs and fruit among which there is a small but deadly snake. She ponders death over a life of humiliation while the peasant offers her a simplistic solution. Roman historian Plutarch wrote that Cleopatra preceded her suicide by bathing and then having a fine meal including figs, brought to her in a basket.
There was an increase in Christian themes in the final period of Delacroix's career. "I was much impressed by the Requiem Mass," he wrote in his Journal (Nov. 2, 1854). "I thought of all that religion has to offer the imagination, and at the same time of its appeal to man's deepest feelings.
Christ at the Column (1849)
Christ on the Cross (1853)
Detail of Christ on the Cross
The Entombment of Christ (1848)
Detail of The Entombment of Christ
In the last 10 or 12 years of his life Delacroix showed a renewed interest in the North African subjects of his Moroccan experience of 1832, including scenes of tiger and lion hunts, created both from imagination and from direct observation of animal behavior. Delacroix painted a number of Lion Hunt scenes between 1854 and 1861. These scenes represented three of Delacroix’s major themes: Orientalism, hunting and animal representation.
Lion Hunt (1854, 1.8’H x 2.4’ W) - Painted Sketch
The sketch Lion Hunt was done in preparation for a large painting in Bordeaux. The use of wild, explosive colors has been considered an anticipation of Fauvism.
Lion Hunt (1854) - Painted Sketch
The hunters and lions are in a violent struggle to the death. If it weren’t for this sketch, we would not be able to imagine the large scale, finished painting.
Lion Hunt (1855)
This painting looks like an incomprehensible mess if viewed as a stand-alone painting. It isn’t a complete painting. It is the remaining vestige of the Lion Hunt, severely damaged by fire in the Bordeaux Museum in 1870. It represents probably one half to two thirds of the original painting. This remnant measures 5 ½’ H x 12’ W, which means the finished original would have been another of Delacroix’s massive paintings.
Roaring lion - Detail of Lion Hunt - 1855
Turbaned fellow & horse - Detail of Lion Hunt - 1855
Terrified horse - Detail of Lion Hunt - 1855
Lion clinging to the horse’s flank - Detail of Lion Hunt - 1855
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