Romanticism in France

“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

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Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, <em>Napoleon Bonaparte Visiting the Pest House in Jaffa</em>
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>
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>
Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa

Géricault’s massive canvas takes its format from history painting, but its subject is ripped from the headlines.

The cost of war: Delacroix, Greece on the  Ruins of Missolonghi
The cost of war: 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
Eugène Delacroix, an introduction

Delacroix created dramatic images with an intensity of color and expression that no one else could match.

Romanticism in France
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
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>
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>
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>
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>
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>
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.

Selected Contributors