Christopher Riopelle

One of the other concerns beyond pure color in abstraction was the way in which certain forms in Kandinsky themselves carried a charge of meaning or a charge of expressivity so that for example, some of these tall forms or curving forms themselves were emotional in an of themselves. So that the leaping horse, can you see it on the upper right, has a sense I would say, even before you figure out that it almost represents a horse and rider. It communicates something of joy, similarly at the lower right is that a kneeling figure? It communicates something of morning of sadness because it’s a low huddled form.

And Kandinsky was very, very concerned to work out the implications of pure form in his pictures. And of course looking back he could see the Delacroix, while always remaining representational, was doing certain of the same things. That we would read into a huddled figure in one of his paintings a certain emotion, even if we didn’t know what the story was. Or we would read joy into a dancing figure or something, that meaning did not only reside in description but in the pure forms themselves.

Kaywin Feldman

I hope you enjoyed this exhibition and through these master works gained a deeper understanding of the artist and influencer Eugene Delacroix. This exhibition is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the National Gallery, London. We would like to thank Sit Investment Associates, Dorsey & Whitney, Delta Airlines, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Star Tribune for their generous support of this exhibition. Mia also wishes to extend our sincere gratitude to the presenting sponsors of our 100th birthday year, BestBuy, Friends of the Institute, and U.S. Bank.

Eric Bruce

Audio tour produced and directed by Barbara Weiner, sound design by Jason Almendinger, and I’m Eric Bruce. Thank you for coming to see Delacroix’s Influence: The Rise of Modern Art, Cézanne to Van Gogh. See you next time.