The year is 1830. French troops are colonizing North Africa. Algerians, unhappy about being “occupied,” seize some of France’s ships in Moroccan ports. Dissension is in the air and commerce is starting to suffer.
Louis-Philippe attempts to calm the situation sending his ambassador Charles de Mornay over, who invites an artist to accompany him. As it happens, that artist was 34-year-old Eugène Delacroix, and the six months that he spent traveling in Morocco and Algeria were to change his work forever.
His paintings — along with those of other French artists inspired by North Africa — are currently on display at The Institut du Monde Arabe. Comprised of over one hundred works that unreel an astonishing diversity of historical visions, the exhibition bears witness to the long-lasting impact of the colors and traditions of this culture on their country’s arts milieu. This event is part of a “Year of Algeria in France” program sponsored by French President Jacques Chirac and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which sets out to demonstrate the cultural ties linking both countries.
The resulting overview highlights works created by Delacroix on a trip the artist made to Oran and Algiers in 1832. On seeing one of such painting depicting “Women of Algiers in Their Interior,” Renoir — also admirably represented in this show — proclaimed it to be the “most beautiful painting in the world.” The theme of the harem, as evoked by painters such as Ingres, was already a “favorite”at Paris Salons. However, the women in Delacroix’s greatly celebrated paintings were not mere fantasies, but authentic women he portrayed in notebook sketches and watercolors.
Artists were commissioned by the French government to paint glorious monumental sagas recounting the conquest of diverse regions of Algeria and their country’s military triumphs. During their voyages, painters such as Horace Vernet became fascinated by the nomadic lifestyle and conveyed Algerian scenes in a romantic Orientalist manner, as though they were recording a civilization on the brink of extinction.
De Delacroix à Renoir, l’Algérie des Peintres to Jan 19, 10am to 6pm, closed Tue, Institut du Monde Arabe, 1 rue des Fossés St-Bernard, 5e, Mº Maubert Mutualité, tel: 01 40 51 38 38, 4.50E
