EUGENE DELACROIX: GREECE ON THE RUINS OF MISSOLONGHI

2 Pages 401 Words

Eugene Delacroix’s work entitled “Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi” is one of much drama and emotion. The composition is an oil painting on canvas. Delacroix shows the viewer a scene of a woman standing on a rocky cliff above water. An arm of a dead man is protruding from underneath the rocks, and in the immediate distance stands a man holding some sort of walking stick or spear. Delacroix's technique, in which he applied contrasting colors with small strokes of the brush, creating a particularly vibrant effect, is clearly demonstrated in this painting.
The woman figure in this scene is idealistic. The drapery of her dress outlines her body accentuating her thighs and chest. She is in an unnatural pose as she gazes out into the distance. The emotion on her face is one of worry and lost hope. Her clothing reflects and tells the viewer of her culture. The vibrantly colored, embroidered hat and sky-blue velvet coat project and image of a woman from the upper –middle class of society. Shadowing of the creases of her coat creates depth and dimension. The viewer’s eyes are drawn to all areas of the work because of the red color connections, from the red in the woman’s shoes to the red on the clothing of the dead man’s arm and again on the clothing of the man in the background.
This work is an example of front to back perspective. First the viewer’s eyes see the woman in the front and then are drawn to the warrior figure in the background. The background of the work is dark where as the front is bright with vivid color, emphasizing the woman as the main attraction of the work of art. Delacroix puts a tremendous amount of detail especially with the dirt on the dead man’s hand and the drops of blood left on the rock. I found the work to have an emptiness on the left side and focus most of the detail on the right side. I chose to write about this composition as opposed to the others because as I saw it, I felt...