Eugène Delacroix

Introduction
Early life
Development of mature style
Building decoration

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Eugène Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People

Why Did Early Critics Hate The Death of Sardanapalus?

Eugène Delacroix: Horse Frightened by a Storm

Eugène Delacroix: The Death of Sardanapalus

Myth-making in Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People

Painting by Eugene Delacroix showing armed riders and figures in traditional North African dress engaged in combat in a mountainous landscape with a fortress in the background.

Eugène Delacroix: Medea About to Kill Her Children (Medée furieuse)

Painting by Eugene Delacroix showing Liberty as a woman holding the French flag and leading armed revolutionaries over fallen bodies during the July Revolution of 1830.

At a Glance

Liberty Leading the People, oil on canvas by Eugène Delacroix, 1830; in the Louvre, Paris.

Eugène Delacroix summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

How did Eugène Delacroix differ from the Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres?
How did Eugène Delacroix influence later French painters such as Paul Cézanne?
How did Eugène Delacroix portray North African people and clothing in his paintings?
How did Eugène Delacroix use color and movement in The Death of Sardanapalus?
How did Eugène Delacroix use historical and contemporary events as painting subjects?
How did Eugène Delacroix’s 1825 visit to London affect his painting technique?
How did Eugène Delacroix’s 1832 visit to Morocco change his art?
How did Eugène Delacroix’s brushwork help shape Impressionist painting?
How did Eugène Delacroix’s use of color influence Impressionism and Post-Impressionism?
How did John Constable influence The Massacre at Chios?
How did Lord Byron influence Eugène Delacroix?
How did Michelangelo and Rubens influence Dante and Virgil in Hell?
How did Théodore Géricault influence Eugène Delacroix?
How did Women of Algiers in Their Apartment reflect Eugène Delacroix’s Moroccan experiences?
How does The Death of Sardanapalus portray the Assyrian ruler Sardanapalus?
How many drawings, watercolors, and prints did Eugène Delacroix leave after his death?
How many lithographs did Eugène Delacroix create to illustrate Goethe’s Faust?
How was Dante and Virgil in Hell inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy?
What details in Liberty Leading the People show people from different social classes?
What event does Liberty Leading the People commemorate?
What event is shown in The Massacre at Chios?
What government buildings did Eugène Delacroix decorate with murals?
What happened to Eugène Delacroix’s murals at the Hôtel de Ville?
What is depicted in Women of Algiers in Their Apartment?
What is the significance of Eugène Delacroix’s Faust lithographs?
What kinds of animal scenes did Eugène Delacroix paint late in his career?
What painting did Eugène Delacroix exhibit at the Paris Salon of 1822?
What paintings did Eugène Delacroix create for the museum of history at Versailles?
What religious murals did Eugène Delacroix paint in the Church of Saint-Sulpice?
What story inspired The Death of Sardanapalus?
What subjects did Eugène Delacroix sketch during his trip to Morocco?
When and where was Eugène Delacroix born?
When did Eugène Delacroix die?
When did Eugène Delacroix travel to Algeria, Spain, and Morocco?
Where did Eugène Delacroix study painting as a young man?
Which English painters influenced Eugène Delacroix during his visit to London?
Which later artists were influenced by Eugène Delacroix’s color techniques?
Which later paintings by Eugène Delacroix were based on North African subjects?
Which literary authors inspired Eugène Delacroix’s paintings?
Which parts of the Louvre did Eugène Delacroix decorate?
Who did Eugène Delacroix portray in his paintings of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand?
Who is the woman holding the French tricolor in Liberty Leading the People?
Who was Pierre-Narcisse, Baron Guérin, and how did he influence Eugène Delacroix?
Who were Eugène Delacroix’s parents?
Why are Eugène Delacroix’s Journals important to art history?
Why are Eugène Delacroix’s murals considered part of the Baroque ceiling-painting tradition?
Why did Eugène Delacroix admire Peter Paul Rubens?
Why did Liberty Leading the People become a symbol of revolution?
Why did The Death of Sardanapalus shock many contemporary viewers?
Why was Liberty Leading the People kept from public view after Louis-Philippe bought it?
Why was The Massacre at Chios an important work in French Romantic painting?
What was Wassily Kandinsky known for?
Why did Wassily Kandinsky leave Germany?
Why is Albrecht Dürer so famous?
What is Albrecht Dürer known for?
What was Albrecht Dürer’s family like?
What is Paul Cézanne famous for?
How was Paul Cézanne educated?
How was Raphael educated?
Who was Victor Hugo?
What is Victor Hugo remembered for?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

MusÃ©e Delacroix - Biography of EugÃ¨ne Delacroix
The Met - Eugï¿½ne Delacroix, Printmaker Par Excellence
Art in Context - EugÃ¨ne Delacroix Â– An Overview of French Painter Delacroix
The Art Story - Eugï¿½ne Delacroix
Smart History - Eugï¿½ne Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
BBC Arts - Was Eugï¿½ne Delacroix the father of modern art?

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Eugène Delacroix - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Eugène Delacroix

French artist

Also known as: Ferdinand-Eugène-Victor Delacroix

Written by

René Huyghe

Professor of Art, College of France, Paris, 1950–76. President, Council of Museums, Paris, 1974–88. Author of Cézanne; Delacroix ou le combat solitaire; and others.

René Huyghe

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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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History

Eugène Delacroix (born April 26, 1798, Charenton–Saint-Maurice, France—died August 13, 1863, Paris) was one of the greatest French Romantic painters, whose use of colour was influential in the development of both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting. His inspiration came chiefly from historical or contemporary events or literature, and a visit to Morocco in 1832 provided him with further subjects. Delacroix was the fourth child of Victoire Oeben, a descendant of the Oeben-Riesener family, which had created...

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