The French Romantic Artist: Ferdinand Victor Eugne Delacroix - Essay Example

As he grew into a more reputable artist, romantic and dramatic content dominated the themes of his work. As a result, he never delved into the classical and traditional models that were Roman and Greek art. Instead, he opted to travel and explore Northern African lands for the exotic. Delacroix also sought inspiration from Lord Byron. Together, they strongly identified with the forces of the sublime – the forces of nature at their most violent action. Delacroix’s Romanticism was not that of bombast nor was it that of sentimentality. He was taken to the romanticism of an individualist. The most influential of his works was Liberty Leading the People.

He painted it in 1830. It is the painting that clearly demonstrated the differences between the neoclassical and the Romantic style of art. Lion Hunt by Delacroix shows a scene of lion hunting in Morocco, North Africa; where he had visited in his times as a painter looking for inspiration and the exotic. He visited North Africa with the then-French embassy in the year 1832. The painting catches the eye at the first glance at it. There is a strong use of color that draws viewers to it. In the painting, there are at least eight painters who are dressed in bright red mantles and have white vests on.

The hunters also have turbans on their heads. They are evenly spread in the Lion Hunt painting as they engage two lions in a violent fight. Delacroix painted the lions in yellow. The lions are showing fierceness and strength towards the hunters. A male lion that is in the foreground is grabbing a hunter by the chest. The hunter’s shoe has been lashed off already, and as it seems, the angry male lion is roaring back at the other two hunters who are attempting to poke it using a sword and a spear.

A hunter lies behind them. He has already been beaten by the angry lion. Another hunter holds up his hands and arms to protect himself. He is scared to death. The male lion's mate is at the back of the horse. It is roaring forward. It has already knocked down the horse, and the horse is in pain. The horse’s master is hiding behind it. Apart from the violence in the painting, there is a brewing storm in the distance at the sea. The artist, Delacroix, used color in the picture expressively and freely.

The hunting scene is dominated by bright colors. This gives viewers a lot of movement and also a sense of tension. The red mantles; are what the hunters have used to represent belligerence and aggression. The yellow color of the lions represents the fierceness and energy of the lions. The landscape at the back of the violence depicts depression or a feeling of it. The emotions that the painting invokes are part of the romantic art style. They were based on nature and the emotions of nature.

I chose to review this painting because it relates to things I can relate to. At times, one is caught in a hard place where you may be terrified and not know what to do. Personally, I have been to such a place before. The notion that an artist tinkers with such emotions in oil on canvas is just so great.