The Board of Censors Moves Out 1822

Editor: So, this is Eugène Delacroix's etching from 1822, "The Board of Censors Moves Out", housed right here at the Met. It feels incredibly chaotic. There's so much happening, and the figures are so… grotesque! What do you make of all this? Curator: Ah, chaos! A delicious soup of visual information, isn't it? Delacroix wasn't merely depicting a move, he was enacting a satirical, almost theatrical exodus of ideas. Look at the scissors flying around "Maison a Louer"—the house for rent—on the left, then observe the dragon at the top right... all seem to threaten the overloaded wagon with establishment figures squeezed on board. Editor: Yes! The dragon seems ready to devour everyone, which contrasts to the house ready to be rented on the other side! It also contrasts the mood as everyone has a strange expression. Are they concerned? Resigned? Or totally unaware of the dragon? Curator: Precisely! That dragon might symbolize the new Romanticism about to devour neoclassic thoughts. Are you seeing, by the way, the way the lack of space increases the caricature and the absurdity? In a way, this etching isn't just a move, it is cultural shifting, maybe a generational conflict represented as a wild, absurd journey! Editor: It's like Delacroix is using humor to hint a much deeper critique about society's changing views. Curator: Exactly. And in those figures crammed in the wagon, and even in that overworked donkey... Aren't we all just along for the ride in one way or another? Food for thought as it turns into artistic experience. Editor: This makes Delacroix so much more relevant to understand current artistic expressions. Curator: I concur; now you understand Delacroix will stay forever!