Eugène Delacroix was the central figure of the French Romantic movement. He rejected the rigid standards of the nineteenth-century Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the gatekeeper of French culture, functioning as an elite, state-run institution that decided what qualified as "good" art. Instead, Delacroix opted for a style defined by movement and a dramatic approach to colour.
Eugène Delacroix, Self-portrait, 1837.
Born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice in 1798, Delacroix was a child of the Empire. He grew up during the reign of Napoleon, a time when France was being reshaped by grand imperial ambition. This era was defined by Neoclassicism, an official state style characterised by cold, structured forms and a focus on Roman ideals. Delacroix received a rigorous classical education at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he showed an early aptitude for drawing and literature. These intellectual foundations remained evident throughout his career, as he frequently turned to the great works of Western literature for his subject matter.
Delacroix entered the studio of Pierre Narcisse Guérin in 1815, but his real education took place at the Louvre. He spent years copying masters like Rubens and Rembrandt, looking for a way to break away from the cold, sculptural style of his rival, Ingres.
Delacroix is defined by his radical approach to colour. Influenced by the scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul, he used complementary pairings to create visual tension and vibration on the canvas. By pairing reds with greens or violets with yellows, his canvases burst with vibrancy. His brushwork was deliberate and often left visible. His work would be a major influence on the Impressionists, with Paul Cézanne saying, “Delacroix's palette is the most beautiful in France.”
Eugène Delacroix, Moroccan Saddles His Horse, 1855
Key Works of Eugène Delacroix
The Barque of Dante (1822)
This was his first major success at the Salon. It depicts a scene from Dante’s Inferno and establishes Delacroix as a leader of the Romantic school. The work was purchased by the French state, an early validation of his radical style.
This was his first major success at the Salon. It depicts a scene from Dante’s Inferno and establishes Delacroix as a leader of the Romantic school. The work was purchased by the French state, an early validation of his radical style.
The painting is a masterclass in his emerging colour theory. To depict the water drops running down the bodies of the damned, Delacroix used four unmixed pigments placed side by side: white for the highlight, yellow and green for the body of the drop, and red for the shadow. This was a foundational moment for colourism, as it allowed the viewer’s eye to perform the "optical mixing" on the canvas.
The central figures further anchor the composition through high-tension colour pairings. The vivid red of Dante’s cowl resonates against the leaden, smoky atmosphere and the billowing blue garment of the oarsman, Phlegyas. Critics noted the white linen on Virgil’s mantle as a "flash in the tempest," providing a point of stability amidst the surrounding chaos and the fiery glow of the City of Dis.
Eugène Delacroix, The Barque of Dante, 1822
Liberty Leading the People (1830)
It is the definitive image of the July Revolution of 1830, sparked when Parisians revolted against new laws on press freedom and the severity of the Restoration regime. July 29 marked the end of the Bourbon throne. Delacroix, inspired by these events, submitted the painting to the Salon of 1831 under the title The Barricades. He said ‘’And if I haven't fought for my country, at least I'll paint for her.’’
It is the definitive image of the July Revolution of 1830, sparked when Parisians revolted against new laws on press freedom and the severity of the Restoration regime. July 29 marked the end of the Bourbon throne. Delacroix, inspired by these events, submitted the painting to the Salon of 1831 under the title The Barricades. He said ‘’And if I haven't fought for my country, at least I'll paint for her.’’
The central figure is an allegorical goddess and a robust woman of the people, wearing the Phrygian cap, a symbol of liberty from the 1789 Revolution. A 2024 restoration revealed her dress was originally a light grey with gold accents, rather than the yellow seen for decades under aged varnish. The fighters represent a cross-section of society: the bourgeois in his top hat, a student in a bicorne, and the urban worker. The boy wielding pistols famously inspired the character of Gavroche in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.
Though purchased by the government, the painting's life was turbulent. Following the 1832 police massacre of residents on Rue Transnonain, the work's revolutionary message made it complicated to display in public. It was returned to Delacroix, who included it in a retrospective of his work at the 1855 World Fair before being moved to the Louvre in 1874.
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830
The Death of Sardanapalus (1827)
Based on Lord Byron’s play, this painting shows the final moments of an Assyrian king who orders the destruction of everything he owns, including his treasures, horses, eunuchs and concubines, before joining them on a funeral pyre. The composition is a deliberate study in asymmetry. Unlike the orderly, horizontal lines favoured by the Academy, Delacroix uses aggressive foreshortening, tilting the scene of carnage directly into the viewer's space. At the centre, the king watches the chaos with a detached eye, a stark contrast to the writhing movement surrounding him. Technically, the painting is an explosion of warm tones; the deep reds of the bed stand out against a dark background, while the creamy white of the limbs and shimmers of gold pull the eye in a frantic circle. Upon its exhibition at the Salon of 1827, it was met with significant controversy, regarded by some as a landmark of Romanticism and by others as a rejection of neoclassical traditions.
Based on Lord Byron’s play, this painting shows the final moments of an Assyrian king who orders the destruction of everything he owns, including his treasures, horses, eunuchs and concubines, before joining them on a funeral pyre. The composition is a deliberate study in asymmetry. Unlike the orderly, horizontal lines favoured by the Academy, Delacroix uses aggressive foreshortening, tilting the scene of carnage directly into the viewer's space. At the centre, the king watches the chaos with a detached eye, a stark contrast to the writhing movement surrounding him. Technically, the painting is an explosion of warm tones; the deep reds of the bed stand out against a dark background, while the creamy white of the limbs and shimmers of gold pull the eye in a frantic circle. Upon its exhibition at the Salon of 1827, it was met with significant controversy, regarded by some as a landmark of Romanticism and by others as a rejection of neoclassical traditions.
Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus, 1827
Eugène Delacroix’s Final Years
In 1857, Delacroix moved to the rue de Fürstenberg in Paris. The relocation was strategic; he needed to be closer to the Church of Saint Sulpice to finish his work on the Chapel of the Holy Angels, and the apartment was also near the Institut de France. It was in January of that same year, on his seventh attempt, that the painter was finally accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts, which was a long-awaited recognition from the establishment he had spent his life challenging. Delacroix died in his apartment on 13 August 1863, leaving behind thousands of works and a legacy that prioritised evoking emotion and storytelling over academic perfection.
Eugène Delacroix, The Murder of the Bishop of Liège, 1829
