Women of Algiers by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). 1834. Oil on canvas, 70-7/8” x 90-1/8”. Musée du Louvre, Paris, via UVN (Utah Valley University). Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.
In 1832, Delacroix was able to join a French delegation to the Sultan of Morocco. The three-month trip proved profoundly inspirational for him — and for other artists, too, after he had begun to exhibit the work that came out of this period. "His preatest single source of inspiration ... was his visit in Algiers to the harem of a high-ranking captain of the Turkish governor, arranged in secret by local French officials. Delacroix was fascinated by the sweetly perfumed shadows of the harem, its sumptuous colors, clothes and fabrics — and above all, by the sultry beauty of its women, adorned in silks and gold, intent on their tasks of embroidery and weaving" (Eugène Delacroix, 22).
Despite the rich textiles depicted here, there is little evidence of the women's "embroidery and weaving." Rather, there is an air of indolence in the room, as the young woman on the right looks out of the shadows, and the other two, barefooted and completely at ease, seem to be considering something. The hookah adds to the sense of time passing slowly, almost in a daze. The attendant who looks back at the two, one hand against the wall as she apparently pulls back the heavy curtain, also seems to have paused mid-step. The languor here contrasts with the vibrancy of the colours and striking multiplicity of patterns and surfaces. This is another way of life entirely, brimming with visual appeal, but secluded, dream-like, into which the unseen observer gets a secret, momentary, privileged peek.
Delacroix's Women of Algiers was widely praised when it was exhibited at the Paris Salon, and, as Gilles Néret says, "one artist after another followed his route towards the Orient" (26). — Jacqueline Banerjee
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Eugène Delacroix. Great Masters Series. Leicester: Magna Books, 1995.
Néret, Gilles. Eugène Delacroix, 1798-1863: The Prince of Romanticism. Köln and New York: Taschen, 2000.
Women of Algiers." UEN. Web. 4 October 2026. https://uen.pressbooks.pub/arth2720/chapter/eugene-delacroix-an-introduction/
Created 4 October 2026