Liberty Leading the People: Analysis and Meaning of Delacroix's Painting

Freedom guiding the people or The 28th of July It is a painting by the painter Eugène Delacroix, the greatest exponent of French romanticism. The painting represents the July Revolution of 1830, which occurred in Paris, against the constitutional violations perpetrated by Charles X during the Second Restoration.

The canvas is an allegorical painting about a historical event. What does "allegorical painting" mean about a historical event? It means that the painting does not describe a real scene, but rather makes a symbolic representation of a true event. For example, in this painting, the woman is not a real character but an allegory of Freedom.

Eugène Delacroix: *Freedom guiding the people* or *The 28th of July*, 1831, oil on canvas, 260 x 325 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris.

Since its exhibition, the canvas has become one of the most controversial and influential works in history. But why would a painting on the history of France have such an impact on the Western world? Why has it become a universal symbol?

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Frame analysis Freedom guiding the people

The scene of Freedom guiding the people describes a barricade. The rubble, the smoke, and the diversity of characters show that it is a civil uprising. The rebels follow the woman who flies the flag of France, located in the center and at the top of the composition, although they must pass over the fallen.

Plastic composition

The composition is pyramidal. The base of the pyramid covers the bottom line from end to end, where the fallen in battle are located. The upper vertex coincides with the flag of France, which ranks the entire scene.

You can also distinguish a diagonal axis from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, where the crowd is concentrated. On the opposite axis and towards the upper right corner, the context is recognized: the city of Paris.

The characters and their symbols

Three groups of characters are distinguished. In the foreground and center-right, a woman and a child. On the left, two men and another boy followed by an angry crowd. At the base, the fallen in combat and a dying man.

Who are these characters in the painting and what do they represent? The characters in Liberty Leading the People are allegorical and archetypal, not historical figures. They represent the concepts of freedom and people respectively.

Freedom. She is represented as a village girl, barefoot and dressed in a yellow tunic tied at the waist, the upper part of which has been torn in the fight. The armpit shows natural hair, a trait considered vulgar by the classics, for whom the skin of a goddess should be hairless and smooth.

Her head wears a Phrygian cap, symbol of the sans-culottes, militants of the French Revolution belonging to the lower class. They had adopted the Phrygian cap, used in ancient times by the Romans to distinguish freed slaves.

The woman with the Phrygian cap and hair in the air is the "Marianne", a national symbol of the French Republic created after the Revolution of 1789. But the Marianne de Delacroix also carries as attributes a modern bayonet in her left hand, and the flag of France, in her right hand.

Liberty is not an elitist and refined goddess, but a committed, modern, real and contemporary goddess who is embodied in the heart of the people. Thus, Delacroix represents a vibrant, energetic and rebellious Marianne who, with her bare breasts, leads her way over the fallen and guides the people to victory.

The village. The secondary characters that are standing next to Libertad represent the different sectors and social classes. All, as a whole, are the people in their citizen concept. Each character is the archetype of a specific sector.

The bourgeoisie. The man with a top hat, artisan pants and a hunting rifle is an archetype of the bourgeoisie. It is speculated that this character may be Delacroix or an acquaintance of this.
The working class. Next to the bourgeois, we see a man with a sword, without a jacket and with a pistol tied around his waist, representative of the working class.

The bourgeoisie and the working class unite for the same purpose: the victory of the Republic based on freedom. In addition to these characters, the following stand out:

The children of Paris. They are represented in two characters. The first is the child who accompanies Libertad. He carries two pistols and a student black beret. His parted lips suggest that he breathes out a fighting cry. It is the archetype of youthful rebellion against injustice. The second is located to the left of the canvas. He wears an infantry cap and holds onto the rubble.
Dying supplicant. At the feet of Freedom, a dying man gives his last breath, knowing that his sacrifice has been worth it. The red scarf at the waist, white shirt and blue jacket symbolize the French flag.
The fallen. The one who is half naked is a classic model (called Hector), introduced as an allegory of the fallen hero. In a gray-blue coat we see a Swiss guard. Beside him and face down, a cuirassier or cavalryman.
Students. The students also follow the bourgeois and workers. They mingle in the crowd. Among them, one can distinguish one from the Polytechnic School, recognizable by the Bonapartist hat.

The bottom

To the right, in the middle of the smoke, the silhouette of the city can be distinguished. We know it's Paris because we can make out the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral and a handful of Parisian buildings.

However, the space is imaginary. Delacroix has used architecture as a symbol to inform about the urban context, but he has not tried to portray the city. With this he has also challenged the classical tradition.

It may interest you:

Neoclassicism: Characteristics of Neoclassical Art and Literature.
Romanticism: characteristics, representatives and works.

Delacroix's style

In all the elements of style we discover echoes of baroque art in Delacroix. Using the oil painting technique, Delacroix applies loose, vaporous brushstrokes that recall the textures of Rubens and Velázquez.

The painting expresses drama, variegation, tension and dynamism. The luminosity fulfills an expressive role, serving the main symbols: the flag and Liberty; the sacrifice of the fallen and the chest of the raised people.

Delacroix thus challenges the taste for neoclassical art, which in France had become the preferred aesthetic of the official sector. But at the same time that it reminds us of the Baroque, it also evokes the textures and expressiveness of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes in their transitional works.

Meaning of the box Freedom guiding the people by Delacroix

Freedom guiding the people by Eugène Delacroix can be interpreted as a defense of freedom as an indivisible principle of the Republic and as a glorification of the People, the protagonist of this historical change.

The canvas is an evocation of the French Revolution of 1789, which proclaimed the universal values of freedom, equality and fraternity. For Delacroix, there can be no republic without freedom, equality, and brotherhood. The Republic is a historical and concrete expression of the citizen people.

To what to attribute the cultural impact of Freedom guiding the people? This canvas is a compendium of republican political theory, which expresses the values that animated the formation of modern and democratic states as we know them today. The canvas is a symbol of universal republicanism and the fight for equality.

Artistically, the canvas is a libertarian proclamation in its forms. Delacroix transgressed the limits between pictorial genres, mixing allegories and symbols with historical facts and contemporaneity. Likewise, he rejected classical academicism and emotional restraint to create a free and expressive line, and bet on a committed art.

Historical context of the painting Freedom guiding the people

After the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French monarchy was restored. This period was called the Second Restoration. The process jeopardized some of the citizen rights achieved since the French Revolution of 1789, whose motto had been "liberty, equality and fraternity."

In an attempt to return to absolutism, King Charles X published three ordinances that were unaware of the constitution:

Elimination by decree of the newly elected Chamber of Deputies;
Modification of the electoral system to benefit the conservative bloc;
Restriction of freedom of the press.

These ordinances sparked a series of riots that soon turned into a popular uprising. The riots occurred in Paris on July 27, 28 and 29, 1830.

They were not led by anyone, although the most participatory sector was the bourgeois. During the revolt, children and young people spontaneously joined the fight.

Among the consequences of the uprisings we can mention:

The rise to power Luis Felipe I of France and the beginning of the July Monarchy.
The beginning of a cycle of revolutions on the European continent against monarchical governments.

Those days that left so much mark were also later known as Trois Glorieuses, which translates as "The three glorious days" or "The three glorious days."

The origin of the painting: expression of a committed artist

Picture Freedom guiding the people it was painted in 1830, the same year the revolution occurred. It was not a commission, but an initiative of the painter out of political conviction.

Delacroix witnessed the events. Therefore, he wanted to express the broad participation of all sectors. It can be said that he participated in his way: painting a revolutionary picture in its content and in its form.

In a letter dated October 28 of that year, he told his brother:

"If I have not fought for the country, at least I will paint for it"

The French government bought the work in 1831, which was exhibited in the official Salon in December. Critics disqualified him for his technical and compositional freedom. The controversy did not diminish over time, so the piece was reserved in storage.

It took until 1863 for its public display at the Luxembourg Museum, the year of the painter's death. In 1874 it was transferred to the Louvre Museum, where it remains to this day.

Biography of Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix is a painter born in France in 1798. He is considered the most important representative of French romanticism.

Although he received his last name from Charles Delacroix, it is believed that his real father was the diplomat Talleyrand. His mother was Victoire Oeben, descendant of a family of artisans.

He studied in Pierre Guérin's workshop. There, he received training from the artists Antoine-Jean Gros and Theodore Gericault, who became a true point of reference.

He studied in depth the style of baroque art. The most admired and studied artists of him were the Flemish painter Rubens; the Dutch Rembrandt; the Spanish Velázquez and the Italian Paolo Veronese, the latter from the Mannerist school.

Among his most important works are:

Freedom guiding the people (1830);
Algiers women (1834);
The death of Sardanapalo (1827);
The massacre of Chios (1824);
Dante's boat (1822);
Greece expiring on the ruins of Missolonghi (1826);
The lion hunt (1861).

Eugene Delacroix died in 1863 in his native country, suffering from tuberculosis.