Art, literature & history
Mephistopheles Flying, from Faust
1828
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Lithograph in black on white wove paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 27 × 23 cm (10 11/16 × 9 1/16 in.); Sheet: 42.9 × 29 cm (16 15/16 × 11 7/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1930.1256
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Eugène Delacroix. Mephistopheles Flying, from Faust. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
Mephistopheles Flying, from Faust — Eugène Delacroix. 1828.
Medium: Lithograph in black on white wove paper. Dimensions: Image: 27 × 23 cm (10 11/16 × 9 1/16 in.); Sheet: 42.9 × 29 cm (16 15/16 × 11 7/16 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
This nightime scene depicts the demon Mephistopheles flying above a cityscape. The stark contrasts of light and dark emphasize his ghoulish form, accentuated with sharp claws and toenails. This lithograph is the prologue to Eugène Delacroix’s series illustrating key episodes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Faust . An ambitious German scholar, Faust makes a deal with Mephistopheles to gain fame and fortune but, in return, Faust loses his soul and morality.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.