DELACROIX THE ROMANTIC
Part One
A member of the famous Bohemian crowd of French avant-garde art, Delacroix was considered the rebellious leader of French Romanticism. Like all artists of his generation, he had missed out on Napoléonic glory but found excitement in the clash of civilizations between the Europeans and the Muslims with the war between the Turks and the rebellious Greeks. The paintings of Delacroix followed the struggle for democracy among the Greeks abroad and the lower classes at home. The painting of Liberty Leading the People was so stirring that it was decades before it was permitted by the French state to be displayed in a public museum. However, Delacroix was a conservative, who feared revolution and preferred peace and quiet in order to make art. His greatest battles were fought in the Salon with his supreme rival, Ingres.
Also listen to: “The French Romantics: Gros and Girodet, Part One” and “The French Romantics: Gros and Girodet, Part Two” and “French Romanticism, Ingres, Part One,” and “French Romanticism, Ingres, Part Two” and “French Romanticism, Delacroix, Part Two”
Also read: “French Romanticism: The Historical Context” and “The French Academy: Painting” and “French Romanticism: Subject Matter and the Artist” and “French Romanticism and the Avant-Garde”