The Women of Algiers - History

History

The French conquest of Algeria had begun in 1830; toward the end of 1831 the young diplomat Charles de Mornay was sent to the Sultan of Morocco. At that time it was common to take artists along, in order to visually document such a journey. Previously, when Delacroix was studying under Pierre Guérin, he had become friends with a fellow student, Henri Duponchel, who had recently become director of scenic design at the Paris Opera (and would later become its managing director). Duponchel was in the social circle of Mornay's mistress, the actress Mademoiselle Mars, and recommended Delacroix for this assignment.

In contrast to the chief of the diplomatic mission, who missed Parisian life and found the region and its people simply barbaric, Delacroix greatly relished the atmosphere, the colors, the objects, the people, and the architecture of this exotic world. All the same, Delacroix recorded in his notebook that although North Africa seemed surrounded by beauty, in regards to human rights and equality before the law there was much in need of improvement. Because Islam forbade all naturalistic images and women were veiled in public, it was difficult for Delacroix to find female models to draw from; men predominate in his sketchbooks. As soon as he would seek to sketch from afar the women who would hang their washing out on roof terraces, they would immediately alert their husbands. He was only let into Jewish households; there we would later paint the Jewish Wedding and The Jewish Bride. Thus he had no luck in Morocco. He finished his sketches for this painting at the last moment in Algiers, which by then was securely held by the French, where he lingered for a few days on the way back to France. A former Christian who had converted to Islam and had collaborated with the French, is supposed to have allowed him entry into his Harem.

Having walked down some dingy corridor, you enter the part of the house which is reserved for . The eye is truly dazzled by the bright light, the fresh faces of the women and children amidst a mass of silk and gold. For a painter, it is a moment of fascination and strange happiness.