Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix was both a prolific artist and considered the leader of the French Romantic school of painting. He created 9,000 paintings over the course of his life, inspiring Impressionist artists and shaping the Symbolist movement. Influenced by the Venetian Renaissance painters, Delacroix’s style emphasized the effects of color and movement rather than modeled form and outline. The dramatic and romantic content of his works were surprisingly criticized at first, then later accepted, becoming a cornerstone for artists and movements for years to come. Delacroix’s painting,”Liberty Leading the People”, represents the equality, and fraternity of the Parisian people during the French Revolution, and has remained his most inspirational work.