Sale of paintings by Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix was a 19th century French painter. Born on 26 April 1798, Delacroix was introduced to the arts at an early age, whether it be literature, painting or music. In 1815, the young man was admitted to a studio where he was introduced to Théodore Géricault, who would influence him for the rest of his life. Considered as the main representative of Romanticism, his reputation allowed him at the age of forty to receive important orders from the State. He decorated the walls and ceilings of many public monuments. All his life he strove to paint a most laudatory portrait of the greatness of the human being. Admired by his peers, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Degas, he greatly influenced the Impressionist movement.

The painter made his name by exhibiting one of his first paintings, "Dante's Boat", in 1822. His style, which focuses on the overall style of the painting and emphasises the colours, is in contrast to the neoclassicism popular at the time and amazes the critics. This also applies to his later works such as Young Orphan Girl in the Cemetery. Eugène Delacroix is famous for his painting Liberty Guiding the People (1830), which became a symbol of democracy.

In 1832, the artist travelled to Morocco and Algeria where he accompanied the Count of Mornay, Louis-Philippe's special envoy on a diplomatic mission to the Sultan Moulay Abd el-Rahman. This trip to North Africa made him rediscover what was then called "the Orient". He was one of the first painters to travel there, where he made numerous sketches. On his return to France, he created one of his most famous paintings, Women of Algiers in their Apartment, which is both a romantic and orientalist picture.

Eugène Delacroix died in 1863. He left behind a number of drawings, but also sketchbooks - particularly those of Morocco - and an account of his life in which he recorded numerous discussions and observations.