Delacroix's use of Red

Yesterday I mentioned a trip to Spain a few years ago.  That got me thinking about some of the other art I had seen on that trip and I pulled out my notes.

We stayed in a hotel around the corner from the Madrid Caixa Forum.  To my delight they had a Eugene Delacroix retrospective that I didn't know about and stumbled upon.  We went in and quickly received a lesson in the Spanish culture's use of elbows to make room for yourself.  We joined in and I learned quite a bit about his techniques by being able to study his work in person once I got the hang of using my elbows.  What stood out to me the most was his use of red or burnt sienna .  He appeared to use it as an underpainting and then leave parts of it visible, especially around focal points and moving limbs.  He also juxtaposed these with touches with cool color.  This created a vibration which significantly enhanced the movement in the subjects.

Sketch of The Death of Sardanapalus, 1826-1827, Louvre Museum, (copyright Louvre Museum)

This is one of the works which was on display there.  This burnt sienna effect was especially evident in the arm of the figure in the right foreground, which unfortunately is not super obvious in this reproduction.

We are so very fortunate to live in an age where seeing this work or the other is as easy as sitting at a computer, but much is still lost by not studying the works in person.