La Culture: Delacroix 1798-1863 at the Louvre

If ever there was an image that captured an allegory of a nation, it is Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix. Her energy is striking – marching forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the Tricolour flag in one hand and a bayonet in the other. She has become an icon of the French Republic.

The Musée du Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art have joined forces to organise a monographic exhibition dedicated to Delacroix. In its scale, it meets an unprecedented challenge: to elucidate Delacroix’s long, abundant and complex career. From the ashes of youthful brilliance that brought him fame at the Salons of the 1820s to religious and landscaped compositions, the exhibition gathers more than 180 of his works.

Delacroix 1798-1863 explores the tension of an artist who searched for originality while closely following the traditions of Flemish and Venetian artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. In concert with this retrospective, the Musée Delacroix is dedicating an exhibition to the recently restored paintings of Saint-Sulpice church.

“Delacroix 1798-1863” will be showing at the Louvre in Paris until July 23. Note that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. www.louvre.fr

From France Today magazine