The Moroccan and his Horse 1857

Eugène Delacroix painted The Moroccan and his Horse, using oil on canvas, a piece that encapsulates the fervor of 19th-century Orientalism. Painted after Delacroix’s journey to North Africa, the artwork captures a vision of the “exotic” that fueled the fantasies of European audiences. The Moroccan man, frozen mid-action, carries what seems to be a dead or unconscious body draped in red; the tension between the man and his rearing horse evokes a sense of barely contained energy. Delacroix, like many of his contemporaries, engaged with the power dynamics inherent in representing a culture not his own. "The Orient" became a canvas for European projections, a space where artists explored themes of sensuality, violence, and the sublime. But what does it mean to look at this painting now? How do we reconcile its undeniable beauty with the troubling history of colonial desire and cultural appropriation? Perhaps it is in asking these questions, in recognizing the complexities of its creation and reception, that we can truly see this artwork.