Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional Search Ir al contenido principal

Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
Visit Collection Exhibitions Activities Education Search
  • Visit
  • Collection
  • Exhibitions
  • Activities
  • Education

Thyssen - Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
©
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Eugène Delacroix

Arab Rider

ca. 1854
Oil on panel.
35 x 26.5 cm
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Inv. no.
126
(
1972.20
)
Not on display
  • Level 2 Permanent Collection
  • Level 1 Permanent Collection
  • Level 0 Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
  • Level -1 Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
Level 1
Permanent Collection
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Postpop rooms Rodin room
30 18th and 19th Centuries. Transatlantic Relations 31 19th Century. American Landscape and Environmental Awareness 32 19th Century. American Landscape and Urban Life 33 Recovering the ligth. Restoration of Waterloo Bridge, by André Derain 34 20th Century. Expressionist Landscapes 35 20th Century. Expressionist Portraits 36 20th Century. The Language of the Body 37 20th Century. Urban unrest 38 20th Century. Flowers 39 20th Century. Pioneers of abstraction 40 20th Century. Popular flavor 41 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition I 42 20th Century. The Cubist Tradition II 43 20th Century. Abstract Utopias 44 20th Century. Dada and Surrealism 45 20th Century. Interwar Realisms 46 20th Century. American Abstraction I 48 20th Century. Post-ward American Art 49 20th Century. Post-ward European Figurative Art 50 20th Century. Informalisms 51 20th Century. Homo Ludens 52 20th Century. Pop Art 53 Postpop rooms 54 Postpop rooms 55 Postpop rooms 56 Postpop rooms Rodin Exhibition room
Level 0
Carmen Thyssen Collection and Temporary exhibition rooms
A B C D E F G H I J Hall Temporary exhibition rooms Access to Permanent Collection Entrance Access to Carmen Thyssen Collection Paseo del Prado Garden
A 17th and 18th Centuries. Old Masters B 19th Century. North American Landscape C 19th Century. French Naturalist Landscape D 19th Century. Impressionism E 19th Century. Monet and North American Impressionism F 19th Century. Gauguin and Postimpressionism G 19th and 20th Centuries. Neo Impressionism and its Wake H 20th Century. Early Avant-gardes I 20th Century. Between the Wars Painting. Cubism, Abstraction and Surrealism J 20th Century. North American Painting and Others • HALL
Level -1
Temporary exhibition rooms, Conference room and EducaThyssen workshop
Temporary exhibition rooms Conference room EducaThyssen Workshop
The taste for Oriental and exotic themes had spread across France during the 18th century and became more pronounced with the advent of Romanticism. Delacroix was influenced by this trend but it was in fact his trip to Morocco that would mark a turning point in his career. In 1832 the artist accompanied Count Charles de Mornay on an official trip around North Africa, including Morocco and Algeria, while Delacroix also found time to visit southern Spain. This long trip, which lasted from January to July, continued at Mequinés, where the artist arrived on 15March and where the diplomatic mission that he accompanied was received by Sultan Abderraman on the 22nd of that month. In early April Delacroix returned to Tangier, then travelled to Spain, returning to North Africa in June at which point he visited Algeria and Oran. His trip would provide him with material for the remainder of his career, and Delacroix made numerous sketches and drawings that would provide the basis for future compositions. He was fascinated with Arab culture and his impressions are also evident in his letters and other writings. In Africa, Delacroix discovered the classical world of the academic painters, seeing it, however, alive and before his eyes in the gestures of the inhabitants, their customs and clothing. He complained, however, that he could not draw the women as their Muslim culture made them inaccessible and he was only able to depict Jewish women.

Among the numerous motifs that fascinated and enchanted the artist was that of horses. He noted that he took great pleasure in studying them and praised their energy, spirit and competitiveness. The present Arab Rider is one of the images produced during his Moroccan trip. Dated to around 1854, it shows an Arab seated on the ground resting before a fire with a sword hanging from his belt and a weapon in his hands. Next to him a fiery black horse of elegant proportions and long mane conforms to Delacroix’s habitual descriptions of these animals. The panel is one of a series of depictions of scenes and motifs from the Arab world, in this case its horses, which he depicted at a rapid gallop, fighting, starting a race, or being prepared for mounting. These are compositions in which the painter was not concerned to achieve a realistic representation but rather to convey the animal’s presence through colour and movement.

The panel, which is signed at the lower right corner, dates from the moment when Delacroix paid most attention to the backgrounds of his compositions. It was identified by Moreau-Nélaton as the painting mentioned by Delacroix in his Diary of 23 April 1854 as, “a small Arab seated and his horse behind him”. The painting entered the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in 1972 from the collection of Eduardo Mollard.

Mar Borobia
19th Century19th Century - French paintingPaintingOilpanel
Listen
Download image Print page

Tours to find it

A Girl in Japanese Gown. The kimono, c. 1887
Tours
Journeys

Our thematic route through the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza rooms to a land (as in Baudelaire’s dream in Invitation to the Voyage) where “all is order and beauty, luxury, peace and pleasure”.

Products and publications

Poster Vincent van Gogh: Les Vessenots in Auvers

Poster Vincent van Gogh: Les Vessenots in Auvers

12.50 €

Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Catalogue  V1 (Spanish)

Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Catalogue V1 (Spanish)

65.00 € 25.00 €

Klee socks

Klee socks

13.50 €

De Palacio Villahermosa a Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Historia de un edificio

De Palacio Villahermosa a Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Historia de un edificio

28.00 € 15.50 €

Visit online shop

More from the collection

Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
The Duke of Orleans showing his Lover
ca. 1825 - 1826
Théodore Rousseau
Théodore Rousseau
The Colliers´ Hut in the Forest of Fontainebleau
ca. 1855
Johan Barthold Jongkind
Johan Barthold Jongkind
A Windmill near Delft
1857
Théodore Rousseau
Théodore Rousseau
View of the Plain of Montmartre
ca. 1848
  • Private and/or didactic use
  • Commercial use
Private and/or didactic use
Arab Rider. Eugène Delacroix
Arab Rider
Eugène Delacroix

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Terms of Use

The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundación Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes, and other non-commercial uses.

Use for educational and research purposes is understood as the non-commercial or advertising use of images in presentations, conferences, school or university work, in classes at regulated education institutions, as well as in academic publications, with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies, provided that it is non-profit.

Non-commercial use is understood as the use of the images in a context where no profit, monetary or commercial, is generated, directly or indirectly.

Any use other than those indicated above will require the prior written authorization of the Fundación Any request for educational and research use or for non-commercial use (including academic publications), should be directed by email to the Museum Photo Library through the email address archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org. This department manages the worldwide distribution of the images of the works of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the management of their reproduction rights for those uses.

The user agrees to use the image of the website solely and exclusively for the purposes described above and in accordance with the following terms of use:

Terms of use

  • If the image is used for reproduction, the work must be reproduced in its entirety. The image may not be manipulated, deformed, modified, or altered in any way. In particular, no superposition (of images or texts) on the reproduction is allowed.
  • The reproduction of a detail or part of the work may only be made with the prior written authorization of the Fundación. In this case, the credit line must include the following mention: “detail”.
  • Any total or partial reproduction of the images authorized by the Fundación must be accompanied by the following mention: Author's name. Title, Date © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
  • The user will send to the Museum Photo Library of the Fundación one (1) free copy of the edition, publication or reproduction to the following address: Archivo Fotográfico, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado, 8 28014 Madrid, Spain.
Download image
Commercial use
Arab Rider. Eugène Delacroix
Arab Rider
Eugène Delacroix

©

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Terms of Use

The Photographic Archive of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works on its Permanent Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialized publications, you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail @email.

To request images or permits for other commercial or advertising uses (general publications, merchandising, exhibitions, audio-visual works, web pages, etc.), you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail @email.

The Photo Library and the Museum's Commercial Archive manage the worldwide distribution of images of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza works, as well as their reproduction rights. The applicable rates are calculated based on the nature and proposed use of the images, as well as the availability of the requested image.

Requests for scans or new photographs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, an additional fee will apply. Re-photographing a work will require a minimum of six weeks to complete.

However, photographed works are protected by copyright. Therefore, regardless of the terms of use of the photographs set out below by the Foundation, it will be necessary to obtain a license from the author or copyright holder known to the Fundacion in order to reproduce or exploit the work.

Download image
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional

Navegación secundaria (EN)

  • #Thyssenmultimedia
  • Press
  • Corporate events
  • Tourism
  • Join our team
  • Newsletter
Instagram
Facebook
X
Youtube
TikTok
iVoox
LinkedIn

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza would like to thanks for the collaboration of:

Fundación Mutua Madrileña Master Card Comunidad de Madrid
©2025 Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

Menú al pie (EN)

  • Legal terms and use of images
  • Public tenders
  • Transparency site
  • Accessibility and quality
  • Sustainability & 2030 Agenda
  • Contact
Ministry of Culture España es cultura | Spain is culture. The website promoting Spanish culture Paisaje de la Luz | Paseo del Prado y Buen Retiro. Paisaje de las Artes y las Ciencias
Certificación de Conformidad con el Esquema Nacional de Seguridad. Categoría Media. RD 311/2022