Romanticism1827
The Death of Sardanapalus
Eugène Delacroix
Curator's Eye
"Sardanapalus, impassive on his deathbed, contemplates the massacre of his women, his horses, and the destruction of his treasures in a deluge of red colors and dramatic shadows."
A brilliant manifesto of Romanticism, this work by Eugène Delacroix depicts the tragic and orgiastic apotheosis of an Assyrian king refusing defeat.
Analysis
The Death of Sardanapalus, presented at the Salon of 1827, constitutes the radical birth certificate of pictorial Romanticism. Delacroix was inspired by Lord Byron's poem, while distancing himself through an excess of violence and eroticism. The story plunges us into the fall of Nineveh: King Sardanapalus, besieged by insurgents and refusing the humiliation of capture, orders the destruction of everything that has given him pleasure. It is not just a suicide; it is an aesthetic holocaust where the monarch sets himself up as the director of his own end, transforming his palace into an immense funeral pyre.
Stylistically, Delacroix definitively breaks with the neoclassical clarity of the school of David. Here, the line fades in favor of color and vibrant touch. The omnipresent red is not simply a color, but a vector of pure emotion, symbolizing at once shed blood, destructive passion, and purifying fire. The treatment of the flesh, between the pallor of the victims and the robustness of the executioners, testifies to a deep study of Rubens, but with a specifically Romantic ferocity. The work shocked its contemporaries by its lack of a clear moral message, prioritizing visual shock and excess.
The mythological and historical context is that of a dreamed and fantasized Orient, typical of 19th-century Orientalism. Sardanapalus is the quintessential anti-hero: indolent, cruel, yet possessing a tragic dignity in his refusal of the real world. The painting captures the moment when order collapses into chaos. Every detail, from the scattered jewels to the silky fabrics, tells of the end of a golden age. Delacroix uses this ancient tragedy to express the "mal de vivre" of his own generation, which, after the Napoleonic epic, found itself facing an existential void that only the intensity of art could fill.
Technically, the work is a revolution. Delacroix employs superimposed glazes and touches of pure paint that create an almost unbearable shimmer under the light. The psychology of the work lies in the contrast between the convulsive agitation of the bodies at the periphery and the Olympian, almost bored, calm of the king at the center. This sovereign detachment in the face of absolute horror defines the tragic "dandyism" of Sardanapalus. The viewer is caught in this vortex of violence, unable to detach their gaze from this convulsive beauty that already heralds the upheavals of modern painting.
One of the most fascinating secrets lies in the catastrophic initial reception of the painting. Delacroix was almost banned from official commissions after 1827, with critics calling the work a "purgatory for the eyes." Recent radiographic analyses have revealed that Delacroix considerably enlarged the size of the bed during creation to accentuate the effect of a "wave" of bodies pouring toward the viewer. This structural modification aimed to make the space even more claustrophobic and oppressive, despite the monumental dimensions of the canvas.
Another mystery concerns the hidden influences. Although Byron's influence is cited, Delacroix integrated elements from Persian miniatures and travelers' accounts of the time for the details of the harnesses and jewelry. The character of the officer on the right, ready to deliver the final blow, is directly inspired by an Indian model study that Delacroix had made in London. The artist sought a "truth of exoticism" that went beyond simple historical documentation to achieve a universal emotional truth.
Scientifically, the restoration of the painting highlighted the bold use of then-new pigments, such as certain chrome reds, which enabled this incendiary brilliance. Delacroix also played with the texture of the canvas, leaving certain areas in reserve so that the grain of the fabric participates in the effect of luminous vibration. This technique foreshadows Impressionism in its desire to capture atmosphere rather than raw form. The "colored shadows" observed on the woman's body in the foreground were a major innovation for the time.
Finally, an anecdote reports that Delacroix painted this work in a state of frenetic exaltation, locking himself away for months. He allegedly declared: "If I do not do my best for this painting, I will cut my throat." This identification of the artist with his subject is total: the painter is also a despot who sacrifices everything to his vision. The painting contains a "mise en abyme" of artistic creation: like Sardanapalus, Delacroix destroys conventions to reign over a world of pure imagination.
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