Eugene Delacroix
Romantic painter
A romantic painter par excellence, Eugène Delacroix favored the great mythological themes and ancient episodes as well as contemporary historical subjects, not hesitating to take sides. His taste for movement, arabesque, asymmetrical compositions as well as for dark and contrasting tones breaks with the neo-classical aesthetic. Cliffs at Dieppe contrasts with Delacroix's most famous works. In 1834, he went to Dieppe on the recommendation of his doctors after having painted some of his greatest masterpieces, including Liberty Leading the People in 1831. Far from representing the immense, fierce and sublime nature, he preferred a small marine where the cliffs are sketched in all simplicity, with the lightness of watercolor, like a sketch. Without seeking the nuances of light or subtle effects of matter that the Impressionists would cherish, Delacroix renews the codes of meditative painting.
