Delacroix made five visits to Dieppe in the 1850s, pronouncing his "passion for the sea" in letters sent from the coastal town. The hours spent staring out at the English Channel resulted in perceptive interpretations of water’s various color effects. Here, yellow rippling waves cover almost two-thirds of the sheet and give way to a teal-blue horizon. The artist wrote in his journal: "The sun was behind me, and thus the side of the waves that rose up before me was yellow, the side turned towards the horizon reflecting the color of the sky." A second view in the upper right of the sheet represents a calmer sea before a landmass. The inscription below notes: "In good weather the mountains are violet and the tone of the sea appears green."
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Dimensions:Overall: 10 1/2 x 17 9/16 in. (26.7 x 44.6 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in honor of Jill Newhouse, 2014
Accession Number:2014.732.1
Inscription: Inscribed in graphite at far right: presque toujours brume grisatre violete [sic] / à l'horizon entre le ton de la mer / et le bleu du ciel / par le beau temps / les montagnes / violatres / le ton de la mer / paraissant d'un vert / charmant mais / melé de vert [these two last works crossed out] d'arc en ciel / où le vert domine
Marking: Stamped in red ink, lower right: Mark of Delacroix's posthumous sale 1864 (Lugt 838a); watermark NE
Eugène Delacroix (French)(his estate sale, Paris 1864, part of no. 600); Private Collection, Paris; Jill Newhouse (American)(sold to Karen B. Cohen)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections," April 10–June 16, 1991.
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. "Delacroix, Les Derniéres Années," April 7, 1998–July 20, 1998.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Delacroix, The Late Work," September 15, 1998–January 3, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Delacroix," September 17, 2018–January 6, 2019.
Robaut, included in no. 1775 (20 watercolors of Dieppe and environs); Paris/Philadelphia 1998-1999, cat. no. 57 (pp. 158-159; 362); MMA 1991.69.
Alfred-Ernest Robaut L'Oeuvre complet d'Eugène Delacroix: Peintures, Dessins, Gravures, Lithographies. Paris, 1885, cat. no. included in 1775.
Jacob Bean, Lee Johnson, William M. Griswold Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863): Paintings, Drawings, and Prints from North American Collections. Ex. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1991, cat. no. 69, p. 139, ill.
Arlette Sérullaz Delacroix: The Late Work. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, Apr. 7-July 20, 1998 and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Sept. 15, 1998-Jan. 3, 1999. Paris, Philadelphia, 1998, cat. no. 57, pp. 158-159, ill.
Sébastien Allard, Côme Fabre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Delacroix. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2018, cat. no. 132, pp. 186-7 and 295, ill.
Ashley Dunn, Colta Ives, Marjorie Shelley Delacroix Drawings: The Karen B. Cohen Collection. New York, 2018, fig. no. 18, p. 27, ill.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
