Liberty Leading the People ( ) is a
painting by
Eugène Delacroix
commemorating the
July Revolution of
1830, which toppled
Charles X. A
woman personifying
Liberty leads the people
forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the
tricolore flag of
the
French Revolution in one hand
and brandishing a
bayonetted musket with the other. This is perhaps Delacroix's
best-known painting, having carved its own niche in
popular culture.
Painting
Delacroix painted his work in the autumn of 1830. In a letter to
his brother dated 12 October, he wrote: "My bad mood is vanishing
thanks to hard work. I’ve embarked on a modern subject—a
barricade. And if I haven’t fought for my country
at least I’ll paint for her." The painting was first exhibited at
the official
Salon of May 1831.
Delacroix rejected the norms of
Academicism in favor of
Romanticism.
He depicted Liberty, personified by
Marianne, symbol of the nation, as both an
allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of
the people, an approach that contemporary critics denounced as
"ignoble". The mound of corpses acts as a kind of
pedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and
bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer.
The
Phrygian cap she wears had come to
symbolise liberty during the
French
Revolution of 1789.
The fighters are from a mixture of social classes, ranging from the
upper classes represented by the young man in a
top hat, to the revolutionary middle class or
(
bourgeoisie), as exemplified by the boy
holding pistols (who may have been the inspiration for the
character
Gavroche in Victor Hugo's
Les Misérables). What
they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their
eyes.
Aside from the flag held by Liberty, a
second, minute tricolore can
be discerned in the distance flying from the towers of Notre
Dame
.
The identity of the man in the top hat has been widely debated. The
suggestion that it was a self-portrait by Delacroix has been
discounted by modern art historians. In the late 19th century, it
was suggested the model was the theatre director
Etienne Arago; others have suggested the
future curator of the Louvre, Frédéric Villot; but there is no firm
consensus on this point.
Usage
The French
government bought the painting in 1831 for 3,000 francs with the intention of displaying it in
the throne room of the Palais du Luxembourg
as a reminder to the "citizen-king" Louis-Philippe of the July
Revolution, through which he had come to power. This plan
did not come to fruition and the canvas was hung in the Palace
museum for a few months before being taken down for its
inflammatory political message. Delacroix was permitted to send the
painting to his aunt Félicité for safekeeping. It was exhibited
briefly in 1848 and then in the
Salon
of 1855.
In 1874, the painting entered the Louvre
.
Legacy
It
inspired the Statue of
Liberty
in New York
City
, which was given to the United States as a gift
from the French only 50 years after "Liberty Leading the People"
had been painted. The statue, which holds a torch in its
hand, takes a stance similar to that of the woman in the
painting.
An engraved version of this painting, along with a depiction of
Delacroix himself, was featured on the 100-franc note in the early
1990s.
The painting is frequently reproduced or reinterpreted in popular
culture, and has recently been featured on the front cover of
Eric Hobsbawm's
Age of
Revolution,
Fareed Zakaria's
The Future of Freedom:
Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad,
The Economist, and in the artwork for
Viva la
Vida or Death and All His Friends by the British group
Coldplay. The painting has had an influence
on
classical music as well;
George Antheil titled his Symphony
No. 6
After Delacroix, and stated that the work was
inspired by his viewing of a copy of
Liberty Leading the
People.
References
- Pool 1969, p.33.
- Toussaint, Hélene, (1982). La Liberté guidant le peuple de
Delacroix. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées
Nationaux
-
http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/c/cpo99604a.php
Bibliography
- Pool, Phoebe (1969). Delacroix. London: Hamlyn. ISBN
0600037967
- Prideaux, Tom, etc. (1972). The World of Delacroix.
United States: Time Life.
- Toussaint, Hélene, (1982). La Liberté guidant le peuple de
Delacroix. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées
Nationaux.
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