Delacroix’s “Lion Hunt, sketch,” oil on canvas, shows the improvisatory confidence of a de Kooning. Credit Agaton Strom for The New York Times.

“That bastard. He’s really good.” (Picasso to Françoise Gilot, about Delacroix)

“The first merit of painting is to be a feast for the eye.” (Delacroix’s last journal entry, June 1863)

(Quotes from Roberta Smith, “At the Met Museum, the Grand Enigmas of Delacroix,” NYTimes, 9-15-18)