Eugène Delacroix

Born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, Eugène Delacroix is considered to be the principal exponent of French Romantic painting in the 19th century. Fascinated by the works of Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian, he drew inspiration from literature and major contemporary events. Thus, the The Massacre at Chios (1824) and Liberty Leading the People (1830), respectively, refer to the Greek War of Independence and the 1830 revolution. His reputation earned him many State commissions, including the monumental décors that adorn the walls and ceilings of many Parisian civil and religious buildings. The first Paris Exposition of 1855 finally recognised Eugène Delacroix as one of the most influential painters of his generation.

Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People was not painted in reference to the 1789 revolution but to the "July Revolution", the three days in 1830 (27, 28 and 29 July) during which the people rebelled against King Charles X. With its pyramidal composition, at the top of which sits a fierce daughter of the people dressed in a Phrygian cap, carrying a French rifle and flag, and dressed in a yellow cloth reminiscent of robes of antiquity, the painting is in line with other works produced at the same time. Completed in December 1830, Liberty Leading the People was presented to the public at the Salon de peinture et de sculpture of 1831, and only entered the Louvre in 1874. It was one of the museum's most viewed paintings for a long time.

Did you know ?

Eugène Delacroix appears in the work "The Raft of the Medusa" by Théodore Géricault: he agreed to pose as one of the shipwrecked, he appears as a cadaver with uncovered shoulders, lying face down on the ground.