musee-beaux-arts-bordeaux

A rare piece by Eugène Delacroix joins the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux

undefined undefined 23 juillet 2025 undefined 17h30

The Editor

©Kiev.Victor

The Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts has just acquired, thanks to a donation from the Society of Friends of the museum, a rare preparatory study signed by Eugène Delacroix. It's a major addition to the romantic masterpiece Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi.

A Rare Piece Gifted to MusBA

It’s a discreet yet precious sheet. The museum officially announced on July 18th the addition of an unpublished drawing by Eugène Delacroix, a major figure of French Romanticism, to its collections. This study, referred to as the “presumed first thought” for Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi, sheds light on the artist's early explorations to capture the dramatic tension of this historical scene, painted in 1826.

With its free-flowing lines and expressive power, the artwork reveals Delacroix as a draftsman at the height of his art, where the sketch already evokes deep emotion.

Delacroix in Sketch Form

The Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts (MusBA) is no stranger to Delacroix. It already holds three drawings by the master as well as two major paintings:

Greece on the ruins of Missolonghi and The Lion Hunt. The arrival of this study enhances a rare collection in French public collections.

To see starting in November at the museum

The drawing will be presented to the public starting from November 3, 2025, until February 23, 2026, in the museum's Bonheur wing. It will be displayed just a few centimeters away from the final work it relates to, offering a unique dialogue between the sketch and the final painting.

data-start="1856" data-end="2088">At the same time, a conference titled « Meeting Around Delacroix the Draughtsman » will be held on December 3, 2025, at the museum, to explore the graphic behind-the-scenes of one of the great names in the history of French art.

Address: 20 Cr d'Albret, 33000 Bordeaux, France