“Romanticism lies neither in the subjects that an artist chooses nor in his exact copying of truth, but in the way he feels…."
—Charles Baudelaire
videos + essays
We're adding new content all the time!
![Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, <em>Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/grosthumbnew-570x350.jpg)
Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa
Napoleon masterfully manipulated his image, and this painting meant for Parisian audiences is pure propaganda.
![Delacroix, <em>Women of Algiers in Their Apartment</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/WomenOfAlgiersNew-570x350.jpg)
Delacroix, Women of Algiers in Their Apartment
Delacroix's orientalist fantasy exhibited to great acclaim in the Paris Salon.
![Théodore Géricault, <em>Raft of the Medusa</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Gericault-Raft-of-the-Medusa-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa
Géricault’s massive canvas takes its format from history painting, but its subject is ripped from the headlines.
![Eugène Delacroix, <em>Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/thumbtop-570x350.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
Delacroix's painting is about much more than the Greek War for Independence—it is a universal statement about the cost of war.
![Eugène Delacroix, an introduction](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Barque_of_Dante_thumb-570x350.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, an introduction
Delacroix created dramatic images with an intensity of color and expression that no one else could match.
![Romanticism in France](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DavidMarat-1-570x350.jpg)
Romanticism in France
In the decades following the French Revolution, this new movement began to flourish in France.
![Eugène Delacroix, Murals in the Chapel of The Holy Angels, Saint-Sulpice](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Delacroix-murals-detail-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, Murals in the Chapel of The Holy Angels, Saint-Sulpice
Delacroix's unusual choice of scenes in these murals bewildered critics for over a century.
![Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, <em>Napoleon on His Imperial Throne</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ingres-Napoleon-on-his-Imperial-throne-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Napoleon on His Imperial Throne
The eagles have landed in this imperial portrait of Napoleon inspired by antique and early modern sources.
![Eugène Delacroix, <em>Liberty Leading the People</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Eugène_Delacroix-Liberty-leading-the-people-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
Bare-breasted with a bayonet? Liberty leads a revolution that won’t be televised but will be seen in the Paris Salon.
![Eugène Delacroix, <em>Scene of the Massacre at Chios</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/51843913724_b9571d918d_k-e1720995058831.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, Scene of the Massacre at Chios
Delacroix’s scene of Greek survivors is anything but heroic and offers no relief to the suffering depicted.
![Eugène Delacroix, <em>The Death of Sardanapalus</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Delacroix-The-Death-of-Sardanapalus-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Eugène Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus
Delacroix paints an anti-hero who presides over a chaotic, violent scene of corruption and luxury.
![Between Neoclassicism and Romanticism: Ingres, <em>La Grande Odalisque</em>](https://smarthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Jean_Auguste_Dominique_Ingres_-_The_Grand_Odalisque-thumb-570x350.jpg)
Between Neoclassicism and Romanticism: Ingres, La Grande Odalisque
How did the French imagine the exotic? Here, Ingres trades a classical Venus for a nude in a harem.