I have chosen to focus on ?Women of Algiers in their apartment' (1834) by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). He is usually considered the most important French romantic painter. His romantic mood led him to dream of the Orient (thanks to poems by Byron) before traveling in North Africa, in search of the exotic. In the book, ?Women of Algiers', romanticism and Oriental elements are closely linked. However, Delacroix's travel to North Africa was closely linked to the political context of the time. In 1832, Delacroix, aged 34, traveled to Morocco as part of a diplomatic mission. 1830 was also the date of the storming of Algiers by Charles X, King of France. At the inception of the Monarchy of July, in 1830, Louis-Philippe wondered what to do with Algeria. He had the choice of leaving the French troops, and staying in Algeria in accordance with public opinion. He chose to stay but this caused diplomatic problems between the King of Morocco and France. Thus a diplomatic mission led by Charles Edgar, Comte de Mornay was sent to Morocco to mediate with Sultan Moulay Abd-er-Rahman. As Mornay wanted to be accompanied by an artist to give the journey a more pleasant aspect, Delacroix was chosen. On the way of return, the mission stopped over at Oran, and then Alger.
[...] According to the painting critic Gustave Planche, the painting Women of Algiers is “reduced only to colors and forms in space”. That is why it is difficult to qualify the type. It is not a history painting, nor a portrait, nor a scene of genre. The painting could look like some Flemish portraits of genre. The scene takes place in a harem, that is to say a space of curiosity and phantasms for Occidentals. But Delacroix didn't handle the subject as he made for The death of Sardanapalus (1827, Musée du Louvre). [...]
[...] Delacroix generally applied paint in individual strokes of color called “flochetage”, which means the use of pure colors, neither blurred nor mixed. He was influenced by John Constable, a British landscapes painter, who left the spots juxtaposed, requiring more participation from the viewer. Because of his touch called in “flochetage”, Delacroix was the precursor of Impressionists. Moreover, Delacroix achieved a high level of emotion in this work. The painting is shrouded by mystery. It is expressed by the attitude of women who are languid; none of them look at the spectator. [...]
[...] According to Renoir, Women of Algiers is most beautiful painting in the world”[3]. What is important to note is that in Delacroix's painting, women are dressed; they are not nude and lascivious like L'Odalisque (1745, Musée du Louvre) by François Boucher or La Grande Odalisque (1814, Musée du Louvre) by Jean Dominique Ingres. The atmosphere of Women of Algiers is sensual but not erotic, women are chatting and their gazes are not provocative. When they painted their odalisque, Boucher and Ingres didn't travel to North Africa; so their paintings were reconstitutions that they made in their atelier, from how they imagined Orient. [...]
[...] It is important to note that this painting was not painted by Delacroix in Algiers but after his return to France, on the base of sketches and simple watercolors that he made in Algiers. Back from North Africa, Delacroix painted, mixing studio techniques and travel impressions. In this paper, I will be especially interested in how Delacroix depicted light and colors, how he painted a new kind of subject, very different from classical history painting (from Poussin to David), and how he gave a new vision of Orient. [...]
[...] To have a complete vision of orientalism in the first part of the 19th century, I would like to analyse briefly military oriental paintings. One of the most important painters of this kind of scenes is Horace Vernet (1789-1863)[5]. In 1819, he painted Le massacre des Mamelouks dans la citadelle du Caire. Mamelouks means Turkish people. They are depicted as cruel beings, they submit the Egyptian rebellion. It is a caricatured vision; for instance, we see the sultan, insensitive to events around him. [...]
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