Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863)

                                                                                        
Self-Portrait
1837

Eugène Delacroix was one of the greatest Romanticists. His abilities to display complex emotions and capture the wild motions of his characters were extremely sharp. Delacroix was incredibly intelligent and witty, and produced one of my favorite aphorisms on Art: “What moves those of genius, what inspires their work are not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.”

Still-Life with Lobster
1826-1827

Girl Seated in a Cemetery
1824

Turkish Women Bathing
1854

The Death of Sardanapalus
1827

4 comments:

  1. What's your one-sentence definition of Romanticism?

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  2. I don't know if there's a true way to define such a broad movement singularly, but I'll give it a shot: Romanticism is the striving for a merger between things spiritual and sublime with those mundane.

    What's your definition?

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  3. I haven't worked one out yet. I feel like I only grasp the gist of it, but I think Romanticism must have something to do with evoking the emotions of vitality, flourishing, spiritual satisfaction, and the like.

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  4. Very interesting! I especially like the Vase of Flowers,which is not usually the type of painting I'd be drawn to.
    It's fascinating to imagine the stories behind some of the unknown subjects like the Orphan Girl.
    Eugene Delacroix

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