SOURCE: Mras, George P. “Preface” and “Delacroix's Conception of Art.” In Eugene Delacroix's Theory of Art, pp. vii-ix, 10-12. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.

In the following excerpts, Mras asserts that Delacroix's literary endeavors are the “most significant non-visual contribution by a major artist to the history of art.” The critic also links Delacroix's personality with the need for articulation in all matters that concerned his art.

Preface

The literary endeavors of Eugène Delacroix, especially the Journal, have long been ranked among the most significant nonvisual contributions by a major artist to the history of art. Rich in anecdote, criticism, philosophy, and biography, and expressed in a persuasive prose style, these writings have inspired widespread admiration. For the student of art theory they possess special value in that few artists have revealed the inner core of a basic aesthetic in so thorough a manner. The industrious reader of...