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Musee Nationale Eugene Delacroix
Musee Nationale Eugene Delacroix Metro: Saint Germain des Pres
Arrondissement: 6eme The Musee Nationale Eugene Delacroix is located on the Place de Furstemberg on the street of the same name. This apartment and studio was Eugene Delacroix's last and was occupied by him from 1857 to 1863. The small square on which it stands was the former court of honor of the abbey palace built in 1586 by the Cardinal de Bourbon, abbot of Saint Germain des Pres. The palace is a wonderful building that was restored some few years ago. Delacroix moved here in 1857 mainly to make it easier to work on the frescoes he was painting for the church of Saint Sulpice not far away. These frescoes which can still be seen in the Church were his last major work and were completed just before his death in 1863. The apartment and studio have been a museum since 1952. The museum is open every day but Monday's and Holidays from 9:45 am to 5 pm. The museum houses personal memorabilia of the artist along with paintings, drawings, furniture and engravings. Ferdinand Victor Eug�ne Delacroix (April 26, 1798 - August 13, 1863) was an important painter from the French romantic period. Delacroix was born at Saint-Maurice-en-Chalencon, Ard�che, in the Rh�ne-Alpes Region of France. He was trained by Pierre-Narcisse Gu�rin in the neoclassical style of Jacques-Louis David, but was strongly influenced by the more colorful and rich style of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and fellow French artist Th�odore G�ricault (1791-1824) whose works marked an introduction to romanticism in art. Delacroix's developing technique would prove to be an important influence on others. His use of expressive color profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionist movement. In 1822, his first major painting, The Barque of Dante, was accepted by the Paris Salon and two years later he achieved popular success for his Massacre at Chios. Delacroix's most influential work came in 1830 with the painting, Liberty Leading the People. This painting serves to show the difference between the romantic style of painting and the neoclassical style of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. The French government bought the painting but officials deemed its glorification of the idea of liberty as too inflammatory and removed it from public view. Nonetheless, Delacroix still received many government commissions for murals and ceiling paintings. Eugene Delacroix also illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He is also well known for his Journals, in which he expressed his views on art as well as a variety of topics. In 1832, he traveled to Spain and North Africa, a trip that would influence the subject matter of a great many of his future paintings. Following the Revolution of 1848 that saw the end of the reign of King Louis Philippe, Delacroix's painting, Liberty Leading the People, was finally put on display by the newly elected President, Napoleon III of France. Today, it can be seen in the Louvre. Throughout his life Delacroix remained the preeminent French romantic painter in the tradition of Michelangelo and Rubens. He painted the famous portrait of the composer Frederic Chopin. Many large murals of his can be seen in churches around Paris. The two frescoes in Saint Sulpice were his last great works. His "Deposition" in Saint Denis du Saint Sacrement in the 3eme arrondissement was finished in 1848. In the Church of Saint Paul-Saint Louis is his work "The Agony" which displays the artist's mastery of capturing light in canvas.
Eugene Delacroix died in Paris, France and was interred there in the P�re Lachaise Cemetery.
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