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| Eugene Delacroix, 1830. Liberty Leading the People [oil on canvas]. Louvre. |
This painting is called “Liberty Leading the People”. It was painted by Eugene Delacroix in 1830. The 1830 is part of the Romantic period. The woman shown in this painting represents Liberty.
Delacroix’s masterpiece shows a moment of ‘anarchic freedom’, when anything seemed possible. This painting shows the July Revolution of 1830. It is a clear image of what revolution feels like; Violent, murderous, ecstatic, etc.
The composition of this artwork is somehow triangular. Liberty is the highest from all other people and she is also holding up the flag of liberty which is now the French national flag. Lighting also helps to set the focus on the woman first.
Liberty Leading the People is basically a dream. Liberty was never there as a semi-nude figure leading people forward to death or victory. Delacroix in his painting made her a living, breathing woman, majestic and maybe also frightening but definitely alive. By her position, and also the position of her dress you can nearly see movement. That is what tells us that the artist managed to create liberty as a living person.
The Guardian, 2005. Theguardian. [online] Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/apr/02/art1> [Accessed 20 February, 2014].
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