Massacre at Chios
The Massacre at Chios
Delacroix, Eugène, in full FERDINAND- VICTOR-EUGENE DELACROIX (b. April 26, 1798, Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Fr.--d. Aug. 13, 1863, Paris), the greatest French Romantic painter, whose use of colour was influential in the development of both Impressionist and Postimpressionist painters. His inspiration came chiefly from historical or contemporary events or literature, and a visit to Morocco in 1832 provided him with further exotic subjects. Eugene Delacroix is numbered among the greatest and most influential of French painters. He is most often classified as an artist of the Romantic school. His remarkable use of color was later to influence impressionist painters and even modern artists such as Pablo Picasso.
Ferdinand-Victor-Eugene Delacroix was born on April 26, 1798, in
Charenton-St-Maurice, France. In 1815 he became the pupil of the French
painter Pierre-Narcisse Guerin and began a career that would produce more
than 850 paintings and great numbers of drawings, murals, and other works. In
1822 Delacroix submitted his first picture to the important Paris Salon
exhibition:
Dante and Virgil in Hell.
A technique used in this work--many
unblended colors forming what at a distance looks like a unified whole--would
later be used by the impressionists. His next Salon entry was in 1824:
Massacre at Chios.
With great vividness of color and strong emotion it
pictured an incident in which 20,000 Greeks were killed by Turks on the
island of Chios. The French government purchased it for 6,000 francs.