Eugène-Delacroix National Museum

The Eugène-Delacroix National Museum is an art museum in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, dedicated to the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). Located at 6, rue de Furstemberg, the institution preserves the last apartment and studio of the artist, who lived there from December 28, 1857, until his death on August 13, 1863. The museum holds significant importance as a monographic site that was uniquely established by artists rather than the state, and it continues to illuminate the life, working process, and legacy of a central figure in French Romanticism.

Following Delacroix's death, the apartment and studio passed to other tenants and fell into disrepair. In 1928, when the owner threatened to terminate the lease and demolish the studio to build a garage, painters Maurice Denis and Paul Signac mobilized to save the site. Supported by Delacroix scholars André Joubin and Raymond Escholier, they formed the Société des Amis d'Eugène Delacroix, which included notable artists such as Henri Matisse, Édouard Vuillard, and George Desvallières. The society rented the space and, beginning in 1932, organized annual exhibitions there. When the property was put up for sale in 1952, the society sold part of its collections to the national museums to finance the purchase of the apartment, studio, and garden. In 1954, the society donated the entire property to the French Republic to establish a museum. The site officially became a national museum in 1971, and in 1991 the building, studio, and garden were classified as a Monument historique. Since 2004, the museum has been administered by the Louvre.

The museum's holdings encompass works and objects spanning Delacroix's career, reflecting his activities as a painter, draftsman, printmaker, and writer. The collection includes paintings, sketches, drawings, prints, lithographs, and lithographic stones. It also preserves his personal writings and correspondence. Beyond fine art, the museum holds a rich array of memorabilia from his 1832 trip to Morocco, such as burnooses, haiks, caftans, djellabas, jewelry, sabers, cushions, slippers, boots, and ceramics. Delacroix's studio items are preserved as well, including his easel, palettes, painting tables, washing glass, decorated faience, and candlesticks. Additionally, the museum houses a documentation center and a library containing over 1,000 monographs, exhibition catalogs, and research files related to Delacroix and his circle.

Among the museum's signature paintings is Magdalene in the Desert, exhibited at the Salon of 1845, which captivated contemporary critics including Charles Baudelaire. Another key work is The Education of the Virgin, painted in 1842 during Delacroix's stay at George Sand's castle in Nohant, a piece Sand herself cherished. The museum also holds Delacroix's only three attempts at fresco, created in Valmont in 1834, and Romeo and Juliet at the Tomb of the Capulets, a work highlighting the Shakespearean themes permeating his imagination. The Portrait of Auguste-Richard de la Hautière, part of a series commissioned by Prosper-Parfait Goubaux between 1824 and 1834, reveals the influence of English portraitists like Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Lawrence. Recent major acquisitions include Cardinal de Richelieu Saying Mass in the Chapel of the Palais-Royal, acquired in 2015, and the Portrait of George Sand, acquired in 2016. The collection also features drawings by colleagues such as Lassalle-Bordes, Huet, Poterlet, Saint-Marcel, and Colin, as well as copies of Delacroix's works by later artists like Henri Fantin-Latour, demonstrating his enduring influence.

The museum is situated within an 18th-century building constructed on the site of the former outbuildings of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés abbey palace. Delacroix chose this location because its proximity to the Église Saint-Sulpice allowed him to minimize travel while decorating its Chapelle des Saints-Anges, a project he had begun in 1847. The approximately 150-square-meter apartment retains its original layout: an antechamber leads to the bedroom of his housekeeper, Jenny Le Guillou, and a dining room on the courtyard side, while Delacroix's bedroom and salon face the garden. A small room opening onto a staircase leads to the studio, which Delacroix had constructed in the garden after obtaining a fifteen-year lease. The garden itself was renovated in 1999 and reconstituted to match its appearance during the painter's residency, based on historical documents.

The museum is located at 6, rue de Furstemberg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It is open daily except Tuesday, and an admission fee is charged. As a national museum under the administrative umbrella of the Louvre since 2004, it fulfills public service missions. Since January 2016, it has been part of the Maisons des Illustres network, a designation recognizing its cultural significance as a preserved residence of a notable historical figure. Beyond its permanent displays, the site actively hosts temporary exhibitions, concerts, readings, and conferences.