Considered a pioneer of French Romanticism, Eugene Delacroix was renowned for his intense brushstrokes and use of colour — techniques that were influential in the development of both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting.
The scion of a distinguished and artistic family, Delacroix formed a passion for music, theatre and the visual arts early on in life. In 1815, he studied under academic painter, Pierre-Narcisse, and, as a young man, visited the salon of the royalist and painter Baron François Gérard. Delacroix is also said to have gained inspiration from the works of old masters such as Rubens, Titian and Caravaggio.
At only 24 years of age, Delacroix submitted his first work to the Salon of 1822. The Barque of Dante caught the attention of critics and helped substantiate the Romantic movement, along with the works of contemporaries like Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas.
But his most recognized painting would be Liberty Leading the People, a monumental canvas now in the Louvre that commemorates the July Revolution of 1830, which ended the reign of Charles X and the French Bourbon dynasty. It is one of the most stirring and enduring images of revolt.
A large share of Delacroix’s work was also dedicated to the decoration of both secular and religious buildings in Paris. His masterpieces can still be seen in the dome of the Senate Library, on the ceiling of the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon and the ceiling of Saint-Denys-du-Saint-Sacrement church, among many others.
The Musée National Eugène-Delacroix is housed in Delacroix’s former apartment in Paris’ 6th arrondissement. It boasts over a thousand artworks by Delacroix, including paintings, drawings, prints and writings.
A prolific artist, Delacroix produced more than 9,000 works during his lifetime, some of them unsigned, including this pastel of a sunset, which EKCART ASIA has acquired privately. Originally credited to his cousin Leon Riesener, this pastel possesses the characteristically ‘thick’ texture and colour palette attributed to Delacroix — a distinctive navy blue, and the presence of yellow and orange applied almost like ‘talc’.
