Eugène Delacroix

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 - August 13, 1863) was an important painter from the French romantic period.

Travel to North Africa

In 1832, he traveled to Spain and North Africa, a trip that would influence the subject matter of a great many of his future paintings. Many of Delacroix's later works were based on what he saw during this trip. As part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco shortly after the French conquered Algeria, Delacroix was entranced by the people and the costumes. He believed that the locals in North Africa dressed similar to how the people of Classic Rome and Greece would have dressed, and thought that the best way to study what would have been classic clothing would be to study the culture of the North African people.

Related Topics:
Spain - North Africa - Morocco - Algeria - Rome - Greece

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He had some trouble getting Moslem women to pose for him. He did manage to sketch some women secretly in Tangier, as shown in the painting of Women of Algiers in their apartment. While he did not find it too difficult to paint the men, he had more trouble with the women, because of the strict Moslem rules where women must be covered. Instead he painted some Jewish women living in North Africa, such as Jewish bride, because they did not have the same dress code and laws against women been depicted. Islamic art has traditionally been more designs and arabesques than the human figure, where the depiction of people was often frowned on, or regarded as blasphemy. Delacroix sometimes had to hide what he was doing from the local people.

Related Topics:
Moslem - Tangier - Islamic art - Designs - Arabesques - Blasphemy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While at Tangier he made many sketches of the people and the city around him, for paintings which he would paint sometimes much later. Many of the paintings he used imagery based just from this one trip. In fact, he did over 100 paintings and drawings of scenes from or based from the life of the people of North Africa. He not only used imagery from scenes of people in these works, but also he saw animals, which he incorporated into the paintings. In Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable and The Lion Hunt in Morocco, he used images of horses and lions along with people in costume to portray the life in North Africa. In another painting with both animals and humans, Moroccan Saddling his horse, the man has a more important role.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~