Tribute to Delacroix

The Musée d'Eugène Delacroix is situated in the painter's old flat in St Germain de Près, not far from the Cafe de Flore. After having visited the easy exhibition with photos of Doisneau I decided to embark on a painter who requires a little more of me: Eugène Delacroix.

The current exhibition at the museum dedicated to Delacroix focuses on a painting by another painter and it was painted after the death of Delacroix. Now that is an interesting angle to look at Delacroix, I think. link

Delacroix died in his bed with his old servant looking after him in 1863, and apparently the young painter Henri Fantin-Latour was upset by the lack of respect shown to Delacroix in that connection. He therefore decided to make a painting where his contemporaries appear with Delacroix. The exhibition shows how Fantin-Latour worked his way towards the final painting. At first he wanted to paint a group of men around a buste of Delacroix, but he finally opted for a painting of Delacroix as the centre piece. As a matter of fact the painting in the painting below is based on one of the only two existing photos of Delacroix..... 

Some people have interpreted the expressions in the faces of the painters and writers shown in the painting, but I cannot say much more about the painting, but the museum was warm and cosy and free with my Louvre Card. The atelier behind the building was an elegant room with a view to a lovely garden. It is amazing how many hidden gardens there are in Paris. I recently saw a TV programme about gardens in Paris, and from the air you could really see how green Paris is behind the Haussmannian facades. If only all these gardens were publicly accessible....