Apollo Slaying the Serpent

Apollo Slaying the Serpent
Eugene Delacroix, Apollo Slaying the Serpent, 1850-1851
By RUOLING "LINDA" XU

Apollo Slaying the Serpent also named Apollo Slays Python or The Triumph of Apollo is a painting made by Eugene Delacroix. As a Romanticist, Delacroix uses light and color to determine the good and evil. Apollo, the God of Sun, appears as bright warm colors and surrounded by light and other gods in the middle of the painting. The painting also can be understood as the sun drives away darkness. In his chariot, Apollo was using an arrow to shoot the serpent. The bottom part of the painting is dark, which shows the evilness of the serpent. 

Apollo Slaying the Serpent is a ceiling painting hang in Louvre. It has been transformed from a palace to a public art museum in the idea of "[art] is the property of the citizenry." Museums are modern inventions, created for political rather than aesthetic reason. The rulers believed by looking at the treasures of art can make people gain national heritage.
  • 7:00 AM

Cleopatra and The Peasant

Cleopatra and the Peasant
Image result for eugene delacroix famous paintings
Delacroix, Cleopatra and The Peasant, 1838
BY REMY JACOBS

Eugene Delacroix was one of the leading painters of the Romanticism Era. What makes this so appealing to the human eye is the vibrant colors and the emotion shown on the faces. 

For inspiration for the painting, Delacroix drew from William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. When first looking at the painting, most people instantly avert their eyes to Cleopatra's illuminated white face, the luxurious jewelry, and the silky-looking clothes.  

Delacroix is trying to depict life and death. The reasoning for her sad face is because Augustus Ceaser has just killed her lover. Because her lover is dead and she has been captured, she thinks that there is no point in life anymore. She contemplates suicide so that she can be at peace with her lover. 

When looking at the peasant on her right, you can see the snake, figs and animal skin. Supposedly she wants the snake to bite her so that the poison will inevitably killer her. The animal skin is just more flaunting of her wealth. 
  • 7:00 AM

Medea (Louvre)

Eugene Delacroix
Eugene Delacroix, Medea (Louvre), 1838
BY JENNY ZHU

Even though Eugene Delacroix is one of the most renowned painters in the world of art history, Medea (Louvre) would not be considered his best work by most people. However, I am in love with the painting. It might sound twisted, but one of the main reasons why I love this painting is because of its extremely messed up back story.

The women in the painting is Medea, who madly fell in love with a guy named Jason. And by mad, I mean pretty insane. Her father did not approve of their love and therefore decided to chase after the run-away couple using his ship. To slow slow down her father, Medea dismembered her brother and threw his body parts on an island knowing that her father would stop to pick up his son's pieces to give him a proper burial. Now, do you mean what I mean by crazy?

But hold on, there's more.

After getting rid of the father, Medea and Jason ran to an island, but shortly after their arrival, Jason became engaged to the princess of the island. Abandoning the girl who just killed her brother to be with you? Not the best idea Jason, not the best idea. Medea, filled with jealousy and hatred, gave the princess a crown and a gown as "wedding presents," but here's the twist, they were poisoned. The new princess died. To complete her ultimate revenge, Medea killed Jason's twins (also her own) right in front of him. Crazy.

Many of Delacroix's paintings appear chaotic and heroic. Medea (Louvre) at first glance does not seem so chaotic for the fact that there's only three people drawn on the canvas, but that I find interesting is the picture outside of it. I imagine Jason chasing Medea down with an army of troops thinking it was the last of her -- only to witness the brutal death of his own sons. The beauties behind tragic and chaos are unspeakable. Medea (Louvre) depicted a powerful scene of a mother killing her own sons, but at the same time you can also feel her despair, her anger, and her agony as a murderer and a victim of love.

  • 7:00 AM

The Exposure of Women in Art: A Mulatto Woman

A Mulatto Woman
Eugene Delacroix, A Mulatto Woman, 1824
The Exposure of Women in Art
by EMMA SHAPIRO

In the 1800s Mulattos had a lower social ranking than most whites. Society did not embrace their differences but rather chastised them for their mixed heritage. In Eugene Delacroix’s A Mulatto Woman, Delacroix quite obviously depicts a Mulatto woman. Delacroix painted people of all social status, not just the elites or poor. Although Delacroix paints many women, he concurred with the ideology that women had no place in political activity. 

The painting of A Mulatto Woman preceded one of Delacroix’s most famous works, Liberty Leading the People, by six years. These two paintings simultaneously compliment and contradict each other. Both the Mulatto woman and Liberty wear loose white blouses which reveal their chests. Delacroix exposes Liberty’s chest as a symbol of power, feminine/supernatural strength, and motherly care as she takes care of the young male revolutionists. The Mulatto woman’s subtle leakage has completely different connotations. The woman’s face does not show strength but rather a shy vulnerability. Her solemn face and hesitance to cover up hints toward her submission to male control. During the time of this painting, men who had relations with Mulatto women were seen as a disgrace. The looseness of her blouse makes her appear almost pregnant, giving her spillage a motherly presence. Her white shirt, jewelry, and put-togetherness give her a pure appearance. 

The exposure of Liberty’s chest in Liberty Leading the People created controversy because of the strength of the woman. The bare chested woman in A Mulatto Woman did not receive the same attention because her powerlessness did not contradict societal ideas of the inferiority of women. Her bare chest places her in the motherly, domestic sphere, where society believed she belonged.
  • 7:00 AM

The Death of Sardanapulus

Arsam Yazdani
Eugene Delacroix, The Death Of Sardanapalus, 1827

I have never seen such a piece of both great chaos and pointed apathy. The last of the Assyrian rulers, Sardanapalus, sits atop his cushy, luxurious bed and orders the destruction of his material goods and servants. Having heard that he was soon to fall and be humiliated publicly, Sardanapalus decided to destroy everything rather than face his public.

The warm color palette contrasts the darkness of spilled blood from his harem of faithful concubines. But the real beauty and movement in the piece lies in the emotion and vignette style. Pioneering this technique, the dramatic lighting heightens the sense of urgency and chaos within the painting. The viewer is forced to look above at these god like figures killing and destroying the kings possessions in a hostile manner. Delacroix’s subject matter is not only foreign, but his style and means of delivering feeling in the piece is unmatched.

This piece truly exhibits Delacroix's passion for the oriental - an atypical but growingly popular style of the time. Greatly inspired by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt, the lavish clothing and exorbitant amount of wealth in the piece contrast daily life in France. Delacroix found Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus to be the great inspiration for the painting. Selected because Delacroix believed that people must not grant any sympathy to the ruling class because their losses are not limited to themselves. This painting resembles the reign of Napoleon, with a high-class lifestyle hurting all others below. This piece has two sides of emotion to it. At first, the chaos makes the viewer feel all the terror and pain, but then they see Sardanapalus on his bed, calm as can be, and the viewer is confused. For me, even disturbed. What kind of person can watch everything they have, everything they love, be destroyed and just lay there?

  • 7:00 AM

Mother Liberty and the Seducer - Liberty Leading the People

Alex McDonald
Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (July 28th 1830), 1830
Liberty Leading the People
Mother Liberty and the Seducer
Curated by Alex McDonald

Curator's Note: This is the third installment in a series of blog posts where I have presented short fiction based off the paintings in my collection. If lost, please go read two prior posts. Thank you.
In her dream, the scrolls entitled Time, Truth, and History contained two words. Never again.  The Girl nods and repeats, never again.
Years pass and the Girl becomes a Woman, struggling against the Rococo Man’s society. Rich men bathe in excess, taking everything they want regardless of the harm done to others. The poor are beaten and unrepresented.

The Woman walks the streets, finding evidence of social degradation. Men lose it. Women bleed. Children starve. The words never again come to mind.

 Finally, when the masses have taken enough, they revolt. The woman realizes never again happened again… She picks up the flag and joins the fray for independence. The steel of a gun against her hand feels right. Soon she stands over the hapless forms of the dead on the front lines . Her bare feet brush against their dead membranes.

This must be what standing in a womb feels like.

The woman’s breast strap has broken. Her chest exposed. The enemy troops stare at it with the eyes of the Rococo Man. She doesn’t care. Those close enough to see her breasts are close enough for her to see the life fade from their eyes.

She turns to face her people. The abused rally behind her. One falls to her hands and knees before the woman.
Oh Mother Liberty, how can I be as free as you?
The Woman smiles. Never again will she be the helpless. Never again will the Rococo Man or the Devil haunt her nightmares. Never again.
The woman’s image, captured by Eugene Delacroix in Liberty Leading the People, will spread and with it, so will her power and influence.

  • 12:00 AM