Moroccan Interior

This drawing belonged to one of seven sketchbooks that Delacroix filled with figural and architectural studies during a six-month trip to North Africa in 1832. His loosely rendered view of the novel shapes and bold hues of a Moroccan interior is augmented by written annotations of the colors he observed—"vert," "rouge," and "bleu." After returning to France, Delacroix would rely on his sketches for the Orientalist paintings he produced throughout the rest of his career.