Eugene Delacroix National Museum of Art

About

Painter Eugène Delacroix moves to 6 rue de Furstemberg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris on December 28, 1857, leaving his former studio on rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette to be closer to the Church of Saint-Sulpice, where he had been commissioned to paint murals since 1849. He lives and works here until his death on August 13, 1863. When the building's owner gives notice to terminate the lease in 1928, painters Maurice Denis and Paul Signac, among others, form the Société des Amis d'Eugène Delacroix. In June 1932, the space opens to the public for the first time as the "Atelier Delacroix." When the building faces a sale in 1952, the society again intervenes to prevent it; the government eventually receives the building as a gift, and in 1971 it is formally recognized as a national museum. Its holdings include paintings, drawings, and prints, along with Delacroix's personal effects and correspondence, material relating to North Africa, and a personal library of more than 2,200 volumes.