Eugene Delacroix can be safely called a revolutionary in painting. He destroyed the strict genre canons of classicism, starting to write scenes from life and literary plots with a touch of exoticism. Delacroix went down in art history as the father of romanticism in painting.
Biography: childhood and adolescence
Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix was born on April 26, 1798 in Paris. He appeared in a family that rose under Napoleon and belonged to the elite. Mother came from a family of famous cabinetmakers. His father was foreign minister during the first French republic, and later ambassador to Batavia (modern-day Netherlands) and prefect of Marseille. As minister, he was replaced by Charles Talleyrand, an ex-bishop, a cunning and resourceful person.
The artist's biographers later found out that it was he who was his real father. Talleyrand often visited Delacroix's house and looked at the hostess. However, Eugene himself concealed this relationship. The man he considered to be his father died early. Delacroix was then only seven years old. Without a father, the family became impoverished and lost its former attention in society.
Eugene grew up an emotional and nervous boy. The people around him called him a real tomboy. A childhood friend, Alexandre Dumas, later recalled that "by the age of three, Delacroix was already burning, toned and etched."
Having entered full board at the Lyceum of Louis the Great, Eugene became more sedate. Then he became interested in literature, classical literature and painting. He owes his passion for the latter to his uncle, who often took him to Normandy to paint from nature.
When the future artist turned 15, his mother also died. Eugene moved to the house of his older sister, whose family lived modestly. At the age of 17, he was left on his own. Then he decided to become an artist and entered the studio of the famous lover of classicism in painting Pierre-Narcis Guerin. A year later, Eugene became a student of the School of Fine Arts, where Guerin taught. There he perfected the drawing technique.
A significant contribution to the future work of Delacroix was made by communication with the young artist Theodore Gericault and trips to the Louvre. There he admired the works of Rubens and Titian. But it was Gericault who had a great influence on his work, who then wrote "The Raft of Medusa". Eugene posed for him. Before his eyes, Gericault broke the usual canons of classicism. The picture caused a furor.
First paintings
Eugene Delacroix's debut work was the painting Dante's Boat. It was painted in 1822 and exhibited at the Salon. Critics took it with hostility. "Rubens' castoffs", "drawn with a drunken broom" - these are the characteristics that gave his first work. However, there were also rave reviews. In addition, he received two thousand francs for her, which was good money at that time.
Delacroix's second painting was The Massacre of Chios, where he showed the horrors of the Greek war for independence. She was introduced two years after her debut work. The picture again provoked critics who considered it too naturalistic. After that, the name of Delacroix became known to the broad masses.
Later he exhibits The Death of Sardanapalus at the Salon. The picture again infuriated critics, who felt that Delacroix made them angry on purpose. Looking at the picture, one feels well that the artist seems to be enjoying cruelty, carefully drawing the details.
Each artist has his own style of painting. Delacroix's paintings are characterized by:
- expressive strokes;
- optical effect of colors;
- emphasis on dynamics and color;
- naturalism.
The main creation
The French Revolution of 1830 was perceived by the young generation of artists and other artists as a kind of renewal and a step out of the abyss of traditions, in which at that time not only creativity, but the whole country was bogged down. This political event inspired Eugene Delacroix to write the now legendary painting "Freedom Leading the People", aka "Freedom on the Barricades". Perhaps the picture can be safely called the most famous work of the artist. It took about three months to write it. But for the first time it was exhibited only a year after the revolutionary events.
In the painting, Delacroix abstractly depicted the concept of "freedom". For this he used allegory. He embodied the dream of freedom in the image of a half-naked woman. She acted as a kind of symbol of the French Revolution. In its appearance, the features of antiquity are clearly visible, and the proportions of the face correspond to all the canons of Greek sculpture. Clothes fluttering in the wind give the canvas a dynamic characteristic of romanticism. A brave woman with the flag of Republican France in one hand, with a gun in the other, leads the people. The heroine of the picture has a naked bust. By doing this, Eugene wanted to show that the French people defended their freedom bare-chested, and that was their courage. A bourgeois, a worker and a young man are depicted next to the woman. This is how the artist showed the unity of the people during the revolution.
The French accepted the painting with delight. The state immediately bought it from Delacroix. However, for the next quarter of a century, the canvas was hidden from human eyes. The government was afraid that the picture would move the people to a new revolution.
Other paintings by Delacroix
During his life, the artist wrote many canvases, including:
- Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi (1826);
- The Assassination of the Bishop of Liege (1829);
- "The entry of the crusaders into Constantinople" (1840);
- Christ in the Sea of Galilee (1854);
- "The Hunt for the Tiger" (1854), etc.
In addition to paintings, Delacroix painted the walls with frescoes. He became interested in this occupation after returning from North Africa. For two decades, he enthusiastically painted the walls of palaces, libraries and other government buildings.
Personal life
Eugene Delacroix was not married. However, from 1834 until the last days of his life, his housekeeper, Jeanne-Marie Le Guillu, was with him. The artist died in 1863 in his Paris apartment. Buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
