Romanticism
A movement in art, literature and music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that rejected neoclassical restraint in favour of emotion and individual expression.
Delacroix was the foremost French painter of his day, and regarded by many as one of the last great history painters. His work displayed his highly charged romantic spirit, which he often attempted to temper with his knowledge of classical art. He expressed admiration for the great colourist painters of the Venetian Renaissance, and also drew inspiration from the work of Rubens. Delacroix believed that an artist’s work should reflect their true emotions and beliefs. His Romantic, colourful paintings were not suited to the neoclassical tastes of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and he was barred from becoming a member until 1857. Delacroix depicted a number of historical and contemporary events, as well as literary and exotic subjects. His rebellious attitude was much admired by the Impressionists.
A movement in art, literature and music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that rejected neoclassical restraint in favour of emotion and individual expression.