Eugene delacroix biography linternaute
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Even his friends hesitated to defend it. In 1849, he was commissioned for the decor of the Saints-Anges chapel in the one of the largest churches in Paris, Saint-Sulpice; his majestic work remained there until 1861. Suffering from tuberculosis, he gradually isolated himself, devoting himself entirely to completing the frescoes at Saint-Sulpice and writing his Journal.
This belated recognition did not bring him the satisfaction he had hoped for, as the Academy did not offer him the position of professor at the École des Beaux-Arts that he coveted.
His final years were darkened by illness. The notes he took, the watercolors he painted, and the objects he brought back from his travels and kept in his studio, went on to inspire over 72 paintings on Morocco during his lifetime.
Painted walls: Delacroix as decorator
A large share of Eugène Delacroix’s work is dedicated to monumental decoration of both secular and religious buildings in Paris.
The painting would become, long after his death, an icon of the French Republic.
The Journey to Morocco: Revelation of a Luminous Orient
In January 1832, Delacroix accompanied, at his own expense, a diplomatic mission led by Count de Mornay to the Sultan of Morocco. The painter was not a big traveler, having only ever left France to spend the summer of 1825 in England, so the Moroccan journey from Tangier to Meknes was an amazement.
In the early 1850s, Delacroix was honored to receive a commission for the central ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre, which was designed in the 17th century and left unfinished by painter Charles Le Brun. Though the painting was quickly purchased by the State, Delacroix was disappointed when it was sent to the Lille Museé des Beaux-Arts; he had intended for it to hang at the Luxembourg, where it would have joined The Barque of Danteand Scenes from the Massacres of Chios.
Self-portrait, 1837.
Eugène Delacroix drew inspiration from the events of 1830 for a painting that he submitted to the Salon of 1831: Liberty Leading the People, a monumental canvas that mixes classical allegory with contemporary realism. His friend, the writer Théophile Gautier, became chairman, with the painter Aimé Millet acting as deputy chairman.
He purchased this property in 1858 and spent his last summers there.
Delacroix and Photography
In the 1850s, Delacroix became interested in the nascent art of photography. His first large-scale treatment of a scene from Greek mythology, the painting depicts Medea clutching her children, dagger drawn to slay them in vengeance for her abandonment by Jason.
From 1834 until his death, he was faithfully cared for by his housekeeper, Jeanne-Marie le Guillou, who zealously guarded his privacy, and whose devotion prolonged his life and his ability to continue working in his later years.
In 1862 Delacroix participated in the creation of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.
He was a melancholic dreamer, a solitary nature-lover who enjoyed going for long walks and observing the forest. The young journalist Adolphe Thiers already hailed “the future of a great painter,” while Gros described him as a “disciplined Rubens.”
In 1824, “Scenes from the Massacres at Chios” confirmed his talent and his commitment to the Greek cause.
Manet, Cézanne, Degas, and the Impressionists claimed his heritage, particularly his color technique.
Paul Signac, in “From Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism” (1911), presented him as the precursor of divisionism. He received the grand medal of honor and was made Commander of the Legion of Honor.
After seven unsuccessful candidacies, he was finally elected to the Institut de France on January 10, 1857, taking Paul Delaroche’s seat, despite Ingres’s opposition.
A bachelor living between Parisian social circles and creative retreat at Champrosay, a visionary precursor in his relationship with nascent photography, he obtained belated official recognition with the Universal Exhibition of 1855 and his election to the Institute in 1857, before dying of tuberculosis in 1863, leaving a considerable influence on all the avant-gardes—Impressionists, Neo-Impressionists, Nabis—who saw in him the true founder of pictorial modernity.
Eugène Delacroix’s biography
Eugène Delacroix was born on April 26, 1798, in Charenton-Saint-Maurice near Paris, into a distinguished family.
The Nabis, with Maurice Denis, saw in him a spiritual master. He was the fourth child of Charles-François Delacroix (1741-1805), a lawyer who became a diplomat under the Convention and later a prefect during the Empire, and Victoire Œben (1758-1814), who descended from a renowned family of cabinetmakers. École française.