From his first success at the Paris Salon of 1822 to his death in 1863, Eugène Delacroix stood at the heart of the Paris art world. An exceptional colourist and a prolific writer, Delacroix shaped the Romantic movement in France and decisively influenced the art of his contemporaries. He embodied the idea of the great art rebel who defied the stifling authority and convention of the art establishment.

At the time of his death, a young generation of artists was seeking direction for its own creative experiments. The inspirational figure of Delacroix served as a model for the emerging Impressionists and their allies, including Manet, Monet, Renoir, Fantin-Latour, Degas and Cézanne. Later, Redon, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Matisse would renew the avant-garde obsession with Delacroix’s work and find in him an endorsement of their own artistic choices.

This book explores Delacroix’s most influential paintings and writings and the critical role he played in almost a century of French art.