Paintings
Liberty Leading the People
Eugène Delacroix
1830
Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution of 1830 with an allegorical figure of Liberty, bare-breasted and wearing a Phrygian cap, who strides over the fallen and raises the tricolour flag. Around her surge citizens from all classes, from a top-hatted bourgeois to a working-class boy brandishing pistols. The composition merges realism with allegory and is a cornerstone of French Romanticism.
Historical Context
Painted in the months after the uprising that toppled Charles X, it was shown at the Salon of 1831 and purchased by the state. It was considered too incendiary to display for many years. Its image of Liberty later became one of the enduring emblems of France and of revolutions worldwide.
Provenance
Bought by the French state in 1831, stored away for political reasons, and finally placed in the Louvre in 1874.
Details
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 260 × 325 cm
- Department
- Paintings
- Period / Era
- Romantic
- Origin
- France
- Location in museum
- Denon Wing, First Floor — Room 700
About the Artist
Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was the leading French Romantic painter, celebrated for expressive colour and dramatic subjects. Inspired by Rubens and the Venetians, and by travels to North Africa, he influenced the Impressionists and countless later artists.