Value and quotation of works, paintings by Delphin Enjorlas

If you own a work by or about the artist Delphin Enjolras, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will offer you their appraisal services. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value. Then, if you wish to sell your work, we will guide you towards the best possible arrangement to obtain the optimum price.  

Rating and artist's value Delphin Enjolras

French painter and watercolorist Delphin Enjolras was a renowned academic artist during his lifetime, and continues to fascinate the public. His works sold for between €70 and €56,000. A painting of a woman in a candlestick in a subdued atmosphere sold for €4,200 in 2023.  

Order of value from a simple work to the most prestigious 

Artist's style and technique 

Delphin Enjolras has based his style on genre scenes, creating paintings that feature women who are sometimes undressed and immersed in a domestic universe, lit by an interior light. His enigmatic women are often in a position of relaxation by the light of a candle, lamp or twilight. He creates his works using a variety of materials, mainly pastel, watercolor or oil on canvas. His fine, delicate touch and the recurring theme of the woman questioning her image (with a certain narcissism) and contemplating herself in a mirror have earned him the nickname "painter of reflections".  

The life of Delphin Enjolras 

Initially destined for a career in engineering, Delphin Enjolras (1865-1945) radically turned his back on science at the end of his academic studies to devote himself to his true passion: drawing. He entered the Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he studied watercolor with the famous Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, graduating in 1889. While he was offered a position teaching drawing in Grenoble, he gave priority to his artistic career and embarked on a number of large-scale painting projects.  

The footprint of Delphin Enjolras  

Delphin Enjolras got off to a rocky start, struggling to make a living from his painting after graduating from the Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to his native Ardèche. During this period, he devoted himself to painting topographical views of his picturesque town, but also took up portraiture. He finally managed to get himself exhibited several times with Monsieur Farigoules, and it was thanks to his portrait of a famous prefect that he was able to exhibit at the Salon des artistes français in 1889, where all promising neophytes reveal their talent. He also produced a number of portraits of famous personalities, such as Louis-Gaston de Sonis, a famous officer in the French army during the war against Prussia, and Charles Louis de Tinguy, the famous deputy of the Vendée. His early work consisted of a few landscapes and portraits of leading political figures. From the 1890s onwards, following his marriage to Marie Daudet, Delphin Enjolras radically changed his subject matter, moving towards the style that would earn him great renown: the depiction of women in all their intimacy, sometimes eroticized, with warm, sometimes pastel shades of color. In 1901, he entered the closed circle of the Société des Artistes Français, and was awarded several palmes académiques, honorary French orders created by the Emperor, for his painting The Death of Dupleix.  

Recognizing the artist's signature

Delphin Enjolras signs his works with his name, at the bottom of his paintings, in a cursive, highly graphic, almost angular script.