What are some facts about Eugène Delacroix ..his death and life?

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asked Jun 24, 2013 in Artists

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He was born Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix on 26 April 1798.

He died in Paris on 13 August 1863, aged 65.

His early education was at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he steeped himself in the classics and won awards for drawing.

He was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.

Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists.

His passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement.

A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.

Delacroix was given neither to sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, "Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible".

The impact of Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa was profound, and stimulated Delacroix to produce his first major painting, The Barque of Dante, which was accepted by the Paris Salon in 1822. The work caused a sensation, and was largely derided by the public and officialdom, yet was purchased by the State for the Luxembourg Galleries.

The pattern of widespread opposition to his work, countered by a vigorous, enlightened support, would continue throughout his life.

Known for his bold colors and swingin brush strokes. His famous paintings include Liberty Guiding the People, Dante and Virgil in Hell, and The Massacre at Chios.

Sultan of Morocco, (1845), Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, FranceIn 1832, Delacroix traveled to Spain and North Africa, as part of a diplomatic mission to Morocco shortly after the French conquered Algeria.
He went not primarily to study art, but to escape from the civilization of Paris, in hopes of seeing a more primitive culture.
He eventually produced over 100 paintings and drawings of scenes from or based on the life of the people of North Africa, and added a new and personal chapter to the interest in Orientalism.
answered Jun 24, 2013