Eugène Delacroix’s celebrated 1826 oil painting “Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi” will travel to Greece this April for the first time since it was created. The landmark loan coincides with the 200th anniversary of the heroic Exodus of Messolonghi, when the town’s besieged defenders made their historic stand, according to an article by Maro Vasiliadou in ekathimerini.com.
Widely regarded as the crown jewel of the Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts collection—often compared to the Mona Lisa in importance—the painting rarely leaves France. Its most recent loan was in 2018 for a major retrospective at the Louvre and later at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Museum director Sophie Barthelemy explained that the exceptional decision followed a 2021 visit to Greece, where she encountered numerous reproductions of the artwork on display. “I said to myself that for this anniversary year, we will make an exception,” she said.
The masterpiece will be exhibited at the Xenokrateion Archaeological Museum in Messolonghi, bringing the powerful Philhellenic symbol to the very place that inspired it two centuries ago.
Source: ekathimerini.com
