Salut à tou.te.s,
High among the great masters of French painting, there is Eugène Delacroix. Born in Paris in 1798, he is one of the leaders of Romanticism. But that's not all, following a life-changing trip to Morocco at the age of 34, Delacroix also became one of the important figures of Orientalism, that 19th-century artistic movement fascinated by (what Europeans saw as) Eastern cultures. (Subtitles are available in French and English by clicking on the CC button on the YouTube control bar).
Related episodes: Théodore Géricault's "Radeau de la Méduse"
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Bonne semaine et à bientôt,
Rafaël
Bloody bizarre🩸
At the turn of the 19th century, Napoleon came back from his Egypt campaign. Along with him, the "Egyptomania" (European mania for the Ancient Egypt and mummies). There were so many mummies available, some artists turned them into a new pigment called "mummy brown". You'll never look at "The Liberty Leading the People" the same way. And if that wasn't creepy enough, they started looking for the most unique colors possible. Including some made of human remains such as, why not, Louis XVI's freshly deceased heart.
Word of the week: "tableau", nom masculin
• Œuvre picturale exécutée sur un panneau de bois, sur un morceau de toile tendu sur un châssis. ⇄ picture · painting
• Panneau destiné à recevoir une inscription, des informations, des inscriptions ; panneau où l’on peut afficher des avis, des communiqués. ⇄ board
Sources
(fr) Arte's "Eugène Delacroix, d'Orient et d'Occident": https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/073092-000-F/eugene-delacroix-d-orient-et-d-occident/
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