Liberty Leading the people
Eugène Delacroix. 1830 C.E. France. Oil on canvas
Delacroix wanted to paint July 28: Liberty Leading the People to take his own special action in the revolution and his color technique combined his intense brushstrokes to create an unforgettable canvas.
| | | Description: Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, oil on canvas, September - December, 1830 (exhibited and purchased by the state from the Salon of 1831) 2.6 x 3.25m (Louvre, Paris) | Content:
- Personification of Liberty (central figure)
- Marching over dead bodies
- Leading the way to freedom
- Carrying flag of revolution and a musket in her hands
- Young boy holding two pistols
- Upper-class gentleman in a top hat, holding a rifle
- Represents the rich's inability to stay out of the war
- Materials - medium: canvas; oil on canvas
| Context:
- Romanticism/during Romantic period
- Based on July Revolution of 1830
| Form:
- Realistic, but with dramatic, theatrical lighting
- Soft, rounded lines that embody the figures depicted more so than the sharpness of their objects
- Depth and foreground but little to no background; shrouded in a cloud of fog (theatrical effect?)
| Function:
- Glorification of everyday people who were involved in the war and the role of France's citizens in that war
- Acknowledgment of the sacrifices civilians made for the sake of revolution against a corrupt governmental regime
- Takes on a poignant tone as the revolution would be thought by some to have been in vain; pre-Napoleanic rule
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Entry from Gateways, p. 405 - "Liberty Leading the People, by Eugene Delacroix *1798 - 1863), is one of the most prized possessions of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, partly because it depicts the French people bravely rising up against their government in the three-day July Revolution of 1830. In the painting, the bare-breasted symbol of freedom, Liberty, carries the flag of the revolution in one hand and a musket in the other. The painting shows the sacrifice of people of all ages and social classes. A little boy fearlessly marches forward carrying two pistols, while an upper-class gentleman in a top hat holds a rifle. Crowds of people with muskets and swords follow Liberty as she climbs over those who have died."
Khanacademy - Article: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/enlightenment-revolution/a/delacroix-liberty-leading
- Video: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/enlightenment-revolution/v/delacroix-liberty-leading-the-people-1830
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