Women of Algiers
Women of Algiers in their Apartment, in French Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement, refers to two oil paintings by the French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix. The first version was painted in Paris in 1834 and is in the Louvre. The second version, created between 1847 and 1849, is in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier.
Both paintings show the same scene: four women together in a richly decorated, enclosed room. Yet they feel very different. The 1834 painting keeps the viewer at a distance. One woman, who is Black and enslaved, leaves the scene while the others sit among gold jewelry and flowing fabrics. The details are precise, and the scene seems observational, almost ethnographic, but not inviting the viewer in.
The 1847–1849 version is more intimate and dreamlike. The women are smaller in the composition and fade a bit into the background, while the leftmost woman now looks at the viewer with a warm, welcoming gaze. The enslaved woman remains in the room, but she lifts a curtain to reveal the others, making the viewer feel drawn into the scene. The color palette—golds, burnt umber, and reds—creates a hazy, nostalgic mood that feels more like fantasy than documentary.
Delacroix’s paintings helped inspire later artists. In 1888, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin traveled to Montpellier to study the 1849 version. Picasso made a long series of drawings and paintings in 1954 inspired by Delacroix’s work. The French painter Paul Cézanne admired Delacroix’s luminous color, saying it seemed to enter the eye like wine.
The works emerged from Delacroix’s first-hand experience in North Africa. He joined a diplomatic journey to Morocco in 1831–1832, traveling with artists and writers who documented the trip. He kept detailed journals and made many sketches, including studies of Jewish households. Sketching Arabic women proved difficult due to religious restrictions, but he did gain access to a harem briefly in Algiers, which supplied material for Women of Algiers.
During the 19th century, European views of North Africa were shaped by Orientalist fantasies. Although Delacroix avoided some of the most explicit clichés of the harem, his paintings still reflect the era’s dreamy and sometimes objectifying attitudes. The 1834 work is closer to a careful, observational approach, while the 1849 version leans more toward nostalgia and romanticized imagery.
The 1834 painting debuted at the Paris Salon with mixed responses. King Louis-Philippe bought it and gave it to the Musée du Luxembourg; it moved to the Louvre in 1874, where it remains. The 1849 work was shown at the Salon of 1849 at the Tuileries Palace.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:21 (CET).