Landscape near Tangier 

Curator: Welcome. Before us is “Landscape near Tangier”, a plein-air watercolour piece believed to be from Eugène Delacroix. It's a fascinating example of his travels influencing his artistic output. What strikes you about it? Editor: Instantly, it feels incredibly free. Almost effortless, yet so full of light. It's the kind of piece that makes you want to pack a bag and chase that very same vista, wherever in the world it may be hiding. Curator: Delacroix was profoundly impacted by his travels to North Africa, particularly Morocco, in 1832. This trip allowed him to experience light and colour in ways he never had before. Watercolour was ideal for capturing fleeting moments. How do you feel the location impacts this piece? Editor: It absolutely screams North Africa to me. There’s a hazy warmth, a sense of scale that's quite different from, say, a European landscape of the time. It feels unbuttoned. Also, watercolours hold so much personality, they remind us of holidays and plein-air sessions. Curator: Precisely. Delacroix’s contemporaries, and later audiences, were captivated by these glimpses into a culture that was relatively unknown and exotic to many Europeans at the time. Editor: Exoticising, perhaps? Does it do justice to the area? Or is it filtered through a romantic lens? Curator: Well, Orientalism is definitely a factor. It is a construction of the “Orient” by Western artists, which served very specific political and cultural purposes. It's important to look at these works critically and consider the power dynamics at play. Though it can offer us clues as to period and taste, Delacroix had an incredibly profound impact on many great movements later on in the 19th century. Editor: So even with those historical caveats, this study offers a really great insight into both Delacroix's individual experience and also, I guess, wider cultural views on landscape at the time. Thank you. Curator: A complex lens, no doubt, but essential when examining art within the currents of its time.