The East in the Mirror of Delacroix

Tens of hundreds of thousands of Moroccan brothers are now rushing to the Mohammed VI Museum of Contemporary Art in Rabat to see more than 80 paintings, from the works of the French painter Eugene Delacroix, who immortalized Morocco 190 years ago, with paintings that carried touches of his imagination and artistic memory.. The exhibition includes beside the paintings Some of what the artist acquired during his eastern journey, including swords, clothes, and earthenware, each of which is a documentary reference to folk customs and details of daily life on the land of Fez, Meknes, Asilah, Tangiers and Rabat..

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (1798 - 1863) was one of the first artists to be affected by the East's warmth, and the colors of the sun's shining rays. Where he studied music before joining the studio of the artist “Paul Guerin”, and his ancient bourgeois family, whose influence was wide in the “Saint-Maurice” region near Paris, was keen to attach him to the finest sources of culture and art according to family traditions, as his father, Charles Delacroix, was Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then as governor of the city of Marseille, and then Bordeaux.. After the father’s death in 1805, the family moved to Paris, and the mother left in 1814 AD. Her children’s financial situation deteriorated, to the extent that the painter’s son – in order to support the family – copied the works of the great artists of the Louvre Museum, and sold copies. Among them are the works of Raphael, Rubens and the Spanish Goya. Since the beginning of his brushwork, Delacroix was fascinated by the wildness and brutality of animals, and he has always been particularly interested in horses, their movements and their struggles before they are tamed. Among the paintings inspired by his stay in Morocco, where he depicted aspects of the struggles of animals and some of them, and their struggle with humans, and in this context we see his famous paintings “Lion Attacking a Horse”, “Hunting Lions” and “Arabs Fighting in the Mountains”, until critics adopted a funny opinion He says there are similarities between the features Delacroix and the Lions, for his eyes were shining brightly, and the bones of his face were protruding. The poet “Baudelaire” was such a fan of these paintings that he described the painting “The Hunting of Lions” as having an explosion of colors that evokes hidden feelings, as if it were roaring and snarling like lions. Baudelaire wrote about the presence of women in Delacroix's works a text that can be considered one of the texts closest to the spirituality of his works, such as saying between the lines: "In general, Delacroix does not depict beautiful women from the point of view of ordinary people, at least, and that Delacroix's heroines are almost worthy of describing them as sick, sick, and outgoing, But they radiate a kind of inner beauty that cannot be matched by any other stark beauty, and Delacroix does not express strength through drawing muscles or tyrannical femininity, but through what his drawings leave with a unique momentum of tension that inflames nerves accompanied by spiritual pain. Extreme melancholy shines in him in colors, in color blocks, spacious and dense, as it is in the great painters, but it also appears complaining and deep, as in the melodies of the musician “Weber” .. And just as poets and writers were influenced by Delacroix’s work, the feeling was mutual, as the Shakespeare was greatly raised on him, so that in 1839 AD alone - due to his influence on Shakespeare's work - he completed more than 16 "digging" works, representing Hamlet in different situations, and then he painted many Shakespearean characters in the context of his inspiration for Dante, Lord Byron, and tales of ancient history. , as well as his inspiration for the scenes of the East, he also painted several paintings for his friend, the German musician Frederic Chopin, all of which formed for him a romantic stock that printed the entirety of his works, although all of them were not looking for a real simulation, because simulation is a false standard and the basis in his opinion is what the artist’s imagination carries through it. He sees in things what others cannot see.

Delacroix's acquaintance with the theater star "Mars" was a good and abundant opening for him in the course of his romantic work, as she presented him to Count "Mornay", who was commissioned by King Louis Philippe as an extraordinary ambassador to Sultan Abdul Rahman, and the ambassador wanted to accompany a painter with him, and he was the reason The visit stated that France had occupied Algeria recently, and that it wanted to ensure Morocco’s neutrality; The rebellion was raging in the mountains of Oran, and a delegation of Arab leaders visited Sultan Abdul Rahman to convince him to support their revolution, and therefore the ambassador’s mission was to calm the Sultan’s fears of France, and to conclude a treaty of good neighborliness and peace with Morocco.. The ship “La Perle” made its way to the sea to receive its anchor on January 24, 1832 AD. In Tangiers Bay, the White City; One of the gates to the East, and the Orient was for Delacroix an unattainable place, where the wonderful fruits are far away, and the mysterious and legendary world. Delacroix dreamed of visiting Italy, the cradle of European culture, but that dream never came true for him. With his magic, the artist writes in his memoirs about their reception in a great procession: “It was a rich reception, and our hosts entertained us with military music that had a new impact on the ear.” While the French ambassador was waiting for a date to meet the Sultan after Ramadan, Delacroix took his chance to tour Tangiers, other than that. Bearing in mind the diplomatic confusion of the ambassador, his guide and translator “Pchimol” led him through the labyrinths of alleys that caught his attention with its distinctive fragrance, and made his way through the crowds of the population wearing colorful robes: “I am now like a man who dreams and sees things that he is afraid to slip out of his hands.” And while he avoided falling from the backs of the mules that he rides with much difficulty, and also among the exhibits of vendors squatting in the streets, Delacroix got drunk to the point of new feelings, pictures and shots, as the street seemed to him a river and an inexhaustible source of inspiration: “There are An abundance of exciting subjects, every step around me, in front of me, behind me and on both sides are ready-made life paintings that can make the fortune and glory of twenty generations of painters.” His vast artistic culture contributes to directing his outlook on life. I have seen the spectacle of jostling horses.. I am sure of that, all the splendor, lightness and majesty that he (Robbins) could and did not dream of here around me in abundance, it is the country of the original artistic impetus. And Delacroix affirms in another place of the memoirs and observations book: “Every part of this country is, in my opinion, a home to beauty, and a school of art that has no peer. The heroes of “David” and his peers on their rose-marbled limbs in front of the sons of the sun here, even though they are dressed in ancient Roman garb.” Moroccan clothes were a rich subject, followed by his brush wherever he was: on the road, on horseback, and in embroidered houses, and he always walked with his notebook in his hand. He records sketches voraciously, and before his departure he was interested in buying the necessary paper, and here he is filling seven notebooks with drawings taken directly from reality, among them are passing notes written with nervousness and excitement on the sidelines of the drawings - which then met a historical fate, as it was presented as the most important auction sales after the death of The artist, only three notebooks arrived in museums, and the difficult circumstances and the uncomfortable situation of the artist affected the style of these drawings, as he was drawing them in a hurry while he was on the back of his horse. Perhaps the importance of these quick sketches is limited to the value of the accompanying comments; Her highly complex writing attests to an exceptional visual memory, including his writing of some sentences such as “The Beautiful Man with Green Sleeves,” “The Secret Servant Who Pours Tea,” “With a Yellow Kaftan and a Prince Tied at the Back,” and “The Turban Unparalleled in History,” “The Old Man Who Gave Us the Rose and His Dark Blue Kaftan,” “A Race Between Five or Six Horsemen,” “The Beautiful, Bareheaded Young Man Who Looks Like A Goddess,” “The Splendid Blue Kaftan.” “... In Africa, Delacroix discovers a new type of light and illumination, about which he says: “It is the rare and precious effect of the luminous sun that appears captivating in the liver of the sky, to give everything on the face of the universe a vibrant life that reflects on the earth its shadows to embrace the light and shadow in the image.”

The French artist’s notebooks take into account his self-applications in analyzing colors and shades “men on whom light is reflected from the side, with the shade of white bodies mixed with blue, the deep red color of beast saddles, and the dark red color of the turbans over the heads” .. But at the same time he could not Moroccan women see more than fleeting fantasies like ghosts that eventually hide behind the holes of the mashrabiya, and for this reason he found in the frame that the translator “Bchimol” accompanied him with what he wanted from feminist models to write about them: “The wedding here has a charming character, where the beautiful women wear the bra with sleeves in a frame of gold And the velor to rest in front of me half against the door and the other half against the wall, in front of her an older girl dressed in white to show the very contrasting reflections of the dark and black shadows in the background.” Sunset shadows on the enchanting scene, and takes advantage of the seclusion of his lines to complete some touches, using watercolors that spread on the sides of the lines. E, except that he was always indignant that he could only seize this huge amount of artistic images, God only a little of them, which he admits to himself that they are of little importance to those around him.

Finally, the invitation of Sultan Abdul Rahman arrives to travel to the city of “Meknes”, and the convoy, which includes fifty people guarded by soldiers and mule leaders, and forty animals to transport luggage, tents and gift boxes that will be presented to the Prince of the East, departs. As for the dazzled artist, wherever he traveled in the country of beauty, he did not care about the burning sun that turned his skin black, so he continued to draw his sketches, and write his comments and notes about: the hills that appear on the horizon with the dawn ray, and the laurel trees The flowering valleys, green and growing on either side, the village women standing majestically and welcomingly offering milk when the caravan stopped in the evening, and the parades of horsemen in honor of the guests, and with all these scenes the atmosphere was accompanied by the clamor and the smell of gunpowder and the cloaks swimming in the festival of the Burgas Knights, and Delacroix introduced the word Fantasia from Spanish to French after his eastern journey, which tickled his love for equestrianism and the world of horses.. After arriving in Meknes, the capital, Delacroix did not stay long in the Diya Palace. So, to revolve around him recording the scenes and preparations for the great ceremony that took place in the open air to meet the Sultan with the ambassador; Where he reflected in his mind an impression of the old time and scenes of Islamic history.. the huge gate with towers and the arrival of the Sultan on his horse, and the transparent white clothes of the congregants who went with fans around the prince’s session, and the nobles gathered at the outskirts of the square, and from here emerged the painting of the Sultan of Morocco that was shown in 1845 AD, and from Then Delacroix was not satisfied with his blogs and sketches, but he began touring the markets to add everything new to his bags, which were filled, in addition to papers, with memories from Morocco of every color, such as “chamomile, caftans, and silver ornaments.”

The ship leaves Tangiers port on the tenth of June, and on board the artist who collected sketches that lived with him until the end, to suggest to him to draw more than eighty paintings about Morocco, and an inventory of his studio after his death revealed thousands of other drawings, all inspired by the Arab East, and thus changed the four months Which he spent in Morocco in the style of Delacroix to start building a new world, and new installations that paved the way for the return of the classic to the romantic movement, and following Delacroix’s journey, many artists visited Morocco in search of new impressions, namely the journeys of the East, which includes with Morocco Egypt, Syria and Palestine Persia and India, which in the nineteenth century became an alternative to the residence of traditional artists in Italian schools, and the distant discoveries in the East, with their strange natures and sun-soaked landscapes, such as “Fromentin” and “De Camp” gave an essential reason to paint paintings saturated with vivid colors, Following Delacroix's legacy, Matisse visited Morocco twice, which inspired him to draw many paintings. As for Paul Klee, he received the inspiration of the East in green Tunisia, particularly in the towns of Hammamet and Kairouan.

Perhaps his painting “The Women of Algiers” - which he painted in 1834 and is about 180 cm high and 230 cm wide - is one of the main works in the Paris Louvre Museum - the culmination among dozens of paintings and plans that Delacroix achieved during his travels or after his return from the East, and from here they were not exaggerated. From Cézanne to Renoir and Matisse to Picasso - whom the influence of that painting was so great on them was geometry and color and their work on details, down to the play of shadows and light, that Renoir liked to say that when he approached the painting he inhaled the smell of incense on him, and Cézanne used to describe The reflection of the red color in it is like the taste of witness when it reaches the top of the throat wall. We know that Picasso was so fascinated by this painting that he imitated it more than 15 times before reaching the achievement of his famous painting of the same title, and it was finally sold to a Chinese painting collector for $170 million. The impact of that painting was not only on art, but its vibrations extended to the world of literature as well, to write the Algerian writer “Asia Djebar” (1936 - 2015), her author “Women of Algeria in their apartment”, in which she compares the soft women of Delacroix and the soft Algerian women. A fighter today, and doves of her anger fall on Picasso’s painting similar to his sadistic brutality with the female body, ripping it in the cubist way, highlighting its sensuality at the expense of human dignity.. And..Delacroix expressed what he learned from his eastern journey by saying the immortal in a letter to a friend “Rome is no longer Rome, it is in North Africa.” That was when he discovered everything he wanted to discover.

And if the paintings of the East are a prominent mark in Delacroix’s artistic history, then there is the most famous of his paintings as a whole, which is the painting “Liberty Leads the Peoples”, which he painted in 1830, and settled in the Louvre Museum since 1874 to be considered one of the most important works of the nineteenth century, which its maker said in A message he sent to his brother: "I have persistently started working on a new subject... I did not fight for the country, but I can at least draw for it." A woman appears in the painting with her right hand the flag of liberation, and she holds a rifle with her left, looking at me. Men penetrate the smoke that forms the background of the painting, and the floor of the painting is filled with corpses paving the way to victory, and the elements of the painting are full of the connotations that Delacroix wanted to be distinct from the rest of his works.

The receiving artist put the painting and its scenes at the center of the work when he placed the woman with her bare chest in the middle of the work in which the woman embodied the symbol through realism, and derived her dramatic dimension from the brown tones, while the light projections worked to perpetuate the aesthetic rhythm of the painting, and towers appear in the historical painting The Notre Dame Basilica among the background clouds of smoke, whose name was instilled in the mind after Victor Hugo's novel later, is a symbol of French romance, and Delacroix did not forget to paint himself in the painting, as he appears on the left, wearing a tall hat and holding a rifle, and the artist's strange choice of a bare-breasted woman as a symbol of freedom There may be a desire to point out that the revolution involves “temptation and sedition.”

The painting “Freedom Leads the People” is considered the first real modern political painting, according to what the French critic “Gil Nerié” assures us, who is fascinated by the fact that Delacroix painted his heroine as she walked on a carpet made up of the bodies of the dead, with angry masses running behind her, as he saw in the breast being a symbol The affectionate mother who nourished the people and the republic, expressing the social values ​​of the republic, and it must be noted that many artists such as “Goya”, “Jerico” and “Grou” who were contemporary with “Delacroix” or after him, were greatly influenced by this painting to the extent that they formed from It was inspired by their best paintings, which means that it was the founding point in this field. As for the painting itself, after it was completed, it was bought by King “Louis Philippe” for 3000 francs, but he preferred not to expose it to public view until its fate came to the walls of the Louvre. Through the consensus of critics, Delacroix has drawn the details of his painting through his direct participation in the revolutionary events that he depicts, and during those events over several months he drew many sketches and preliminary sketches, and he returned to using most of these sketches in the painting, making its center the woman bearing the flag who She alone takes on a clear symbolic dimension, and there is a dying and pleading woman dressed in blue, white and red symbolizing the suffering nation, and to the right of the painting a boy holding a pistol in both hands symbolizing the future of the homeland, and this boy in whom Victor Hugo inspired the character of Gavroche in his novel Les Miserables"..

W.. Until his death in 1863, Delacroix remains France's most diverse and influential painter, after he defended the country with painting and brush.