The Aesthetic Experience of Eugne Delacroix (On the basis of his Journal)

The article is devoted to an analysis of aesthetic views of a well known French painter Eugne Delacroix that have been reconstructed on the basis of his Journal. This is the first study of this kind in the Humanities. The study uses a combined philosophical-aesthetic approach to the analysis of the text. It points out that Delacroix in his reflections paid much attention to the beauty of nature and art. Delacroix detected not only beauty’s formal qualities but also its substantial content. He saw natural beauty in the unity of natural phenomena proper as well as in the results of the toils of peasants. He discovered the law of contraries in the landscape, which he applied also to works of art. He saw ancient and dilapidated things as being close to the organic beauty of nature. He assigns an important role to memory in the aesthetic perception of nature and art. The essence of art consists in beauty as harmony, which, in its turn, consists in unity, wholeness, generalization, and simplicity. Delacroix distinguishes between absolute beauty, which is based on perfection, and the beauty that results from disproportionality and the destruction of perfection. He thought that behind the formal beauty of a work of art stood “thought,” “idea,” and “truth.” It is precisely the latter three that make up the content of artistic creativity, to which the Journal pays much attention. At the foundation of the creative process lie design, the internal idea, and the ideal. The main role in the creative process is assigned to “execution.” It is the latter that imparts beauty to the work of art and amplifies the the main point of the design. The initial inspiration, imagination, passion, and daring guide creativity under the direction of the intellect. The artist must remain “himself” and not be anyone’s imitator. In painting, Delacroix particularly values improvisation, its sketchy character, and some unfinished quality. All the above activates the viewer’s imagination and gives a painting its peculiar charm. Accessories in painting must contribute to the expression of the “idealized truth,” natural character and wholeness of the composition. Delacroix provides uniques analyses of the work of Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Rubens.