By the time Delacroix paintedLiberty Leading the People, he was already the acknowledged driving force of theRomantic school in French painting.[4] Delacroix, who was born as theAge of Enlightenment was giving way to the ideas and style of romanticism, rejected the emphasis on precise drawing that characterised theacademic art of his time, and instead gave a new prominence to freely brushed colour.
Liberty Leading the People before restoration
Delacroix painted this work in the autumn of 1830. In a letter to his brother dated 21 October, he wrote: "My bad mood is vanishing thanks to hard work. I've embarked on a modern subject—abarricade. And if I haven't fought for my country at least I'll paint for her." The painting was first exhibited at the officialParis Salon of 1831.
Delacroix depicted Liberty as both anallegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people. The mound of corpses and wreckage acts as a kind ofpedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer. ThePhrygian cap she wears had come to symbolize liberty during the firstFrench Revolution of 1789. The painting has been seen as a marker to the end of the Age of Enlightenment, as many scholars see the end of the French Revolution as the start of the Romantic era.[5]
The fighters are from a mixture of social classes, ranging from the bourgeoisie represented by the young man in atop hat, a student from the prestigiousÉcole Polytechnique wearing the traditionalbicorne, to the revolutionary urban worker, as exemplified by the boy holding pistols. What they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their eyes. Aside from the flag held by Liberty, a second, minutetricolore can be discerned in the distance flying from the towers ofNotre-Dame.[6]
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.[7] In the late 19th century, it was suggested the model was the theatre directorÉtienne Arago; others have suggested the future curator of theLouvre,Frédéric Villot; but there is no firm consensus on this point.[8]
Several of the figures are probably borrowed from a print by popular artistNicolas Charlet, a prolific illustrator who Delacroix believed captured, more than anyone else, the peculiar energy of the Parisians.[9]
The French government bought the painting in 1831 for 3,000francs with the intention of displaying it in the throne room of thePalais 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 hung in the palace's museum gallery for a few months, before being removed due to its inflammatory political message. After theJune Rebellion of 1832, it was returned to the artist. According toAlbert Boime,
Champfleury wrote in August 1848 that it had been "hidden in an attic for being too revolutionary." Although Louis-Philippe's Ministry of the Interior initially acquired it as a gesture to the Left, after the uprising at the funeral of Lamarque in June 1832 it was never again openly displayed for fear of setting a bad example.[10]
Delacroix was permitted to send the painting to his aunt Félicité for safekeeping. After theSecond Republic was established following therevolution of 1848 it was exhibited briefly in that year, and then during the Second Empire in theSalon of 1855. The recently establishedThird Republic finally acquired the painting in 1874 for the collection of theMusée du Louvre inParis.
In 1974–75, the painting was the featured work in an exhibition organized by the French government, theMetropolitan Museum of Art inNew York and theDetroit Institute of Arts as aBicentennial gift to the people of the United States. The exhibition, entitledFrench Painting 1774–1830: The Age of Revolution, marked a rare display of the Delacroix painting, and many of the other 148 works, outside France.[11] The exhibition was first shown at theGrand Palais from 16 November 1974 to 3 February 1975. It moved toDetroit from 5 March to 4 May 1975, then New York from 12 June to 7 September 1975.[12]
In 1999, it was flown on board anAirbus Beluga from Paris toTokyo viaBahrain andCalcutta in about 20 hours. The large canvas, measuring 2.99 metres (9.8 feet) high by 3.62 metres (11.9 feet) long, was too large to fit into a Boeing 747. It was transported in the vertical position inside a special pressurised container provided with isothermal protection and an anti-vibration device.[13]
In 2012, it was moved to the newLouvre-Lens museum inLens, Pas-de-Calais, as the starring work in the first tranche of paintings from the Louvre's collection to be installed.[14] On 7 February 2013, the painting was vandalized by a visitor in Lens. An unidentified 28-year-old woman allegedly wrote an inscription("AE911") on the painting.[15][16] The woman was immediately arrested by asecurity guard and a visitor. A short time after the incident, the management of the Louvre and its Pas-de-Calais branch published a press release indicating that "at first glance, the inscription is superficial and should be easily removed".[17][18] Louvre officials announced the next day that the writing had been removed in less than two hours by a restorer without damaging the original paint, and the piece returned to display that morning.[16]
In September 2023, officials removed the work from display for its latest conservation and restoration. To prepare, the museum first subjected the painting to X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared analysis. These examinations led to the discovery that many of the painting's brilliant colors were muted under several layers of yellowed varnish and dust. The size of the canvas forced conservators to perform all work on-site.[19][20]
The restored painting returned to display in April 2024. During their work, restorers discovered several things hidden under eight layers of varnish and dirt. In addition to the vivid white clouds and plumes of smoke, they found the central figure's dress was not entirely yellow but originally light grey with bits of gold. They believed this change occurred during restoration work completed in 1949. Also, they discovered a boot in the lower left corner which for many years had blended into the paving stones.[21][22]
Freedom for France, Freedoms for the French (1940), a poster depictingMarianne
Although Delacroix was not the first artist to depictLiberty in a Phrygian cap, his painting may be the best known early version of the figure commonly known as Marianne, a symbol of theFrench Republic and ofFrance in general.[23]
The painting may have influencedVictor Hugo's 1862 novelLes Misérables. In particular, the character ofGavroche is widely believed to have been inspired by the figure of the pistols-wielding boy running over the barricade.[24][25][26][27] The novel describes the events of the June Rebellion two years after the revolution celebrated in the painting, the same rebellion that led to its being removed from public view.
Zeki Faik İzler's 1933 artwork for the tenth year of theRepublic of Turkey,On the Path to Revolution, is known to have been inspired by Delacroix, as it was acknowledged by the artist himself. The painting symbolizes the women's role in theTurkish Revolution, in a similar manner it does withMarianne.[28][29]
The painting inspiredFrédéric Auguste Bartholdi'sLiberty Enlightening the World, known as theStatue of Liberty in New York City, which was given to the United States as a gift from the French a half-century afterLiberty Leading the People was painted.[9] The statue, which holds a torch in its hand, takes a more stable, immovable stance than that of the woman in the painting. An engraved version of part of the painting, along with a depiction of Delacroix, was featured on the 100 franc note from 1978 to 1995.
The painting has had an influence on classical music.George Antheil titled his Symphony No. 6After Delacroix, and stated that the work was inspired byLiberty Leading the People.[30] The imagery was adapted byRobert Ballagh to commemorate Ireland's independence struggle on an Irish postage stamp in 1979, the centenary of the birth ofPádraig Pearse,[31] and the painting was used for the bandColdplay's 2008 album coverViva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, with the wordsViva La Vida written in white.[32]Rigoberta Bandini references the painting in the chorus of her 2021 songAy mamá.[33] The cover of the 2010 bookEnough is Enough: How to Build a New Republic by Fintan O'Toole references the painting, but withKathleen Ni Houlihan holding the Irish tricolour in Dublin while the leaders of the three main political parties at the time (Brian Cowen,Enda Kenny andEamon Gilmore) lie on the ground.[34]
Liberty Leading the People made an appearance in the 11th episode ("EDGELORD – Revolution of the 14-Year-Olds") of the Netflix animation seriesGhost in the Shell: SAC 2045.
The painting was featured inVincenzo, a 2021 South Korean TV series starringSong Joong-ki in episode 7. It has also been reported as an influence for the thematic colors of the 2023 Tamil filmMaaveeran.
A photograph ofAed Abu Amro taken during the2018–2019 Gaza border protests by Mustafa Hassona on 22 October 2018, was considered by some a personification of theLiberty Leading the People.[36]
The artwork makes a prominent appearance in the 2023 filmJohn Wick: Chapter 4 where the main antagonist is seen standing before the painting inside the Louvre, which was notably closed to the public for the filming of the scenes.[37]
^Jones, Jonathan (1 April 2005)."Cry freedom".The Guardian. Retrieved8 December 2023.It is the definitive image of the French Revolution - and yet Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People does not portray the French Revolution at all...This scene, it tells us, took place on July 28 1830.
^Marilyn, Yalom (1997).A history of the breast. Random House. p. 122.ISBN978-0-679-43459-7.as in Delacroix's famous paintingLiberty Leading the People, which was not about the revolution of 1789, as most people assume, but the bloody uprising of 1830
^Renwick, William Lindsay (1889).The Rise of the Romantics 1789–1815: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Jane Austen. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990, c1963ISBN978-0-1981-2237-1
