1998 marks the bicentennial of the birth of the great French romantic painter Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863). A pivotal figure in the history of 19th-century art, Delacroix stands both at the culmination of the great painterly tradition of Titian, Veronese, Rubens and Rembrandt and at the beginning of something quite new and modern, as witnessed by the reverence given to him by such artists as Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse, who were profoundly influenced by his work.