18
Liberty Leading the People

The artwork
date
1830
details
Oil, canvas
Links
- Image Copyright
- Wikipedia
- In the museum

Eugène Delacroix
Why we love it
This is perhaps the first political painting in modern painting. Delacroix represents the Parisian revolt of 1830, and not the French Revolution of 1789 as many times has been mistakenly thought, but the work has become a universal symbol of freedom and revolution.
The Bourgeois in the Top Hat is thought to be a self-portrait of Delacroix himself portraying his fighting spirit, although it seems that what the artist did at the time was save the Louvre paintings rather than fight.
“If I haven’t fought for my country at least I’ll paint for her.”
The figure of Liberty, with the republican hat and the tricolor flag of the new regime, showing her tits, naked, because she is free, has become a symbol of rebellion, with current anecdotes, such as censorship from Facebook, as has passed with other paintings, for showing a chest.
A month later Mark Zuckerberg’s company rectified of course.
“Liberty Leading the People” demonstrates the ability of painting not only to impress and excite, but also to become the symbol of an era.
Stories
“Freedom over fear”
“Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life” “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.” Delacroix

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