By Louis Huster, to Museum Spotlight Europe
From Egyptian mummies to impressionist masterpieces, there is something for everyone at the Louvre in Paris. If by chance, you are particularly interested in the French romantic period of painting, you’ll have yet another reason to visit. Until the 23rd of July this year, the Louvre is exhibiting a historic collection of paintings by one of France’s finest artists, Eugene Delacroix. Born 1798 in France, Delacroix would live through five different French governments alternating among republic, dictatorship, and monarchy, until his death in 1863. He was close friends with such talents as Chopin and Baudelaire. The exhibition presents his art in many different sections, each with a theme related to the art or the artist.
Delacroix, whose work spans from the late 1820s to the early 1860s, is perhaps most famous for his painting La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, an 8.5’ x 10.7’ oil painting depicting a scene from the Second French Revolution in 1830: Liberty, holding le tricolore and a musket, stands above corpses and leads the people — and the revolution. It is not by accident that when entering the exhibition, this is the first thing you see.
First, La Liberté strikes you with its size. While a painting isn’t necessarily more impactful just because it is large, in this case, it is. Each expression on the living and dead is clearly visible, the gun Liberty holds is finely detailed, the glare of the sun reflects from the bayonet. The sky above is dark and full of smoke but in the corners above a deep blue. This would feel cramped in a small frame, but on this large scale, each element makes its full effect. After taking a step or two back to fully take in the painting, you notice the color. Mostly blue, grey, white, cream, brown. A splatter of red on a body, a splash on the flag. It is not a “clean” war painting like so many from before. The colors remind us that a revolution is rough and dirty, but La Liberté rises above, reminding us that there is no alternative when following her. A few other large tableaux accompany this masterpiece, including La Bataille de Nancy, which is similarly gritty.
Perhaps to juxtapose, or perhaps because it is in this order that Delacroix produced his work, the next section of the exhibition is dedicated to his lithographs. Almost all of the lithographs are about the size of a piece of printer paper, and all are black and white. Delacroix, rather than being inspired by ancient tragedies or biblical allegories, drew upon Shakespeare and Goethe’s stories. Mephistopheles is a common subject in the prints exhibited, as are characters from Othello and Macbeth. These lithographs are in a style which reminds us of the art made to represent Dante’s Inferno. Sinister and highly detailed, evoking fear, anxiety, and dread. Quite different from most of his other work, these lithographs demonstrate Delacroix’s multifaceted talent.
The next section transitions back to oil paintings, but on a smaller scale than before. Studies of naked women make up the majority of the display while the rest are limited to a few subjects, in contrast to the larger and more complicated paintings from before. It is here we see Jeune Orpheline au Cimetière (Young Orphan at the Cemetery), the study of a beautiful young woman in a state of shock, misery, and perhaps even fear. Far from the expressionless portraits of the day, the entire painting is dedicated to and depends on the subject’s emotions. It is both a study of a young woman but also a study of her state of mind, and we are yet again reminded that Delacroix understands very much the world around him and the world within us. As the leader of the romantic school, it was for him to find interest in those emotions and subjects which were taboo. A life was not full without the good and the bad, and it was this embracing of life as a whole which let Delacroix forge the way as a romantic artist.
Following these small paintings, we come back to the larger format. There are scenes of medieval war, mostly dark in color and subject. Each soldier’s expression is fierce, wild, sometimes fearful and cowardly. Influenced by Napoleonic propaganda and by the depictions of war by Lord Byron, a participant in the Greek war for independence (which was the inspiration for his famous Massacre at Chios), Delacroix was well equipped. After 1815 peace had returned to France, and it was for these paintings of medieval wars that he was commissioned by the state.
Adjacent to these works is a small collection of his paintings of animals. Like the soldiers, their expressions are ferocious and wild. Set in epic backgrounds, these animals are elevated in status as might a mythical beast be. While mostly realistic, there is an exaggeration of brush strokes that lends the beasts an almost caricaturesque aesthetic. Eyes are wide open, claws are fully extended, fur is rippling in the wind– the hyperbole is serious.
These epic scenes precede what is perhaps the most interesting section of the exhibition. While the oil paintings and lithographies present a thought-out, calculated and mythical approach, Delacroix’s watercolors fall on the other side of the spectrum. Most start with a pencil or charcoal sketch which while true to life, are equally spontaneous and organic. Soft watercolor fills in the gaps and brings to life scenes from his visit to Morocco. A man sitting in the street, a young bride, these are everyday people living their lives. He reimagines ancient Greece and Rome in this visit to North Africa, which he believes is the best modern reflection of these ancient civilizations. A few sketchbooks of his are displayed, where notes and small drawings alternatingly fill the pages. We are intimately introduced to his experience of this voyage and come away refreshed in the same way it seems he was. This trip would inspire many of his future works of art, and it is of key importance in his development as an artist.
Famous in France, Delacroix was commissioned to paint murals. Small-scale versions of these murals– studies and sketches to prepare for the real thing– present his transition to the study of religious themes. We notice here that the palette of his art starts to get darker and smaller in range. As he follows this religious theme with scenes from the Bible painted on small and large scale, we understand and appreciate his ability to see an idea to its end. This is the work of a man who will not stop until it is the right time until his job is done. This dark palette is also applied to scenes of Shakespeare and ancient mythology.
Walking into the last hall of this exhibition, the visitor encounters yet another stray from the norm. We know Delacroix mostly for his themes of a grand scale and his intimate studies of people. It with this intimacy that he directs focus onto still life. A few medium-sized still lifes feature different flower arrangements. We crave color after our adventure through his dark and muted religious palette, and our thirst is sated with these explosively bright and rich flowers. In contrast with a more delicate and realistic still life painter like Chardin, Delacroix glamorizes the flowers as he does his animals and his epic subjects. Set in a bright light to contrast the dark background, the flowers don’t feel like they belong to the real world. This is not a reproach, however. It seems clear that in the case of the still lifes on display, they were intentionally painted in a regal and idealistic light.
This exhibition is truly special. From beginning to end we gain insight into the start of a whole movement of art in France, and more importantly, we become intimately acquainted with Eugène Delacroix. We begin to understand what inspired him, what motivated him, and how many ways he could masterfully express himself. Even if we have no interest in the artist himself, this exhibition is an incredible collection of objectively skillful work. We must acknowledge that it represents a lifetime of incredible work, a total submission to an artistic drive. If visiting Paris this summer, make a point to see this exhibition.
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