In this free course, Delacroix, you will be introduced to a variety of Delacroix's work and will see how his paintings relate to the cultural transition from Enlightenment to Romanticism. You will study Delacroix's early career, his classical background, the development of Romantic ideas and their incorporation into his work. You will have the opportunity to study some of his most important paintings and compare them to works favouring a Neoclassical approach. You will also be able to see how his themes, subjects and style were influenced by Romantic ideas, the exotic and the Oriental. Through this you will develop an understanding of the classicRomantic balance that shows how his work was influenced by cultural change of that period and to some extent contributed to the progression from Enlightenment to Romanticism.
Overview
Syllabus
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Overview
- 1 Overview
- 1.1 Delacroix’s background
- 1.2 Ideas and influences
- 2 The Death of Sardanapalus
- 2 The Death of Sardanapalus
- 2.1 Inspiration for the Death of Sardanapalus
- 2.2 Sardanapalus – subject and composition
- 2.3 A passionate reaction
- 2.4 Controversial colour and composition – exercise
- 2.5 Neoclassical – the established style
- 2.6 An alternative deathbed tradition
- 2.7 Interpreting the classical form
- 2.8 Colour and light – exercise
- 2.9 Painterly techniques
- 2.10 Colour versus line
- 2.11 Birth of the ‘Romantic’
- 3 Delacroix – classic or Romantic?
- 3 Delacroix – classic or Romantic?
- 3.1 A classical education
- 3.2 The influence of Géricault and Gros
- 3.3 A Baroque influence
- 3.4 Neoclassical and the Baroque – a delicate balance
- 3.5 The Barque of Dante – innovation within tradition
- 3.6 Massacres of Chios – challenging the establishment
- 3.7 Massacres of Chios – a critical stir
- 3.8 Transcending the Romantic-classic divide
- 3.9 Delacroix’s early career – exercise
- 4 The Romantic artist and the creative process
- 4 The Romantic artist and the creative process
- 4.1 The Romantic aesthetic
- 4.2 Imagination and inspiration
- 4.3 Delacroix – sensitivity and suffering
- 4.4 Revealing the inner being – exercise
- 4.5 The soul and sensitivity
- 4.6 From Enlightenment to Romantic thinking
- 5 Romantic themes and subjects in Delacroix’s art
- 5 Romantic themes and subjects in Delacroix’s art
- 5.1 Sardanapalus – a disconcerting subject
- 5.2 Sardanapalus – passion and futility
- 5.3 The popular Gothic
- 5.4 A taste for the grotesque
- 5.5 The Gothic, the grotesque and artistic expression
- 5.6 Modernity – challenging tradition
- 5.7 Extremes of modernity
- 5.8 Delacroix’s modernity – the historical context
- 5.9 A reaction to the bourgeois establishment
- 5.10 Features of French Romantic art and artists – exercise
- 6 The Oriental and the exotic
- 6 The Oriental and the exotic
- 6.1 Oriental literature
- 6.2 A sense of sumptuous hedonism
- 6.3 Western perceptions – Oriental stereotypes
- 6.4 Recasting the Turkish identity
- 6.5 Romanticising the Oriental
- 6.6 Delacroix – exoticism and animal energy
- 6.7 Delacroix – Orientalism and personal identity
- 7 Conclusion
- 7 Conclusion
- Glossary
- References
- Acknowledgements
