Liberty Leading The People

Liberty Leading The People by Eugene Delacroix in 1830, is an expression of Delacroix's feelings that France is oppressed and needs to be liberated. He show¹s this by painting himself in the painting as one of the Revolutionaries. The painting is a propaganda painting showing the lower class what needs to happen in France. The propaganda was very effective because the lower classes focused more on the meaning of the painting since they were uninterested and unaware of the style of the painting because paintings were never a major concern in their lives since they were constantly working in the fields for the king. Their approach to the painting was different to the Bourgeoisie¹s tendency to analyze the style, color, balance of the painting, which was all in perfect harmony. The Bourgeoisie were led on by the addition of Bourgeoisie rebels integrated with the lower clas «s revolutionaries which was a factor in the Bourgeoisie considering the painting as scandalous. However, the disgust by the Bourgeoisie was not nearly as bad as it could have been if the painting had made the objective of overthrowing the upper classes more obvious resulting in the eventual acceptance of the painting by the Bourgeoisie. Once the revolts started to occur in 1830, the Bourgeoisie needed a scapegoat to turn to. By analyzing subject matter rather than style of these "revolutionary" paintings, they were able to see through the outside of the painting and into a level where the lower classes focused on, which required a little imagination since they were not in the position the lower classes were placed in. They had to place themselves in the shoes of the lower classes to imagine the feeling of victory emitted from the painting by seeing the woman¹s torn and tattered dress and her ignoring her exposed breasts to hold up the flag of France. The pile of the dead revolutionaries under her feet showing the sacrifice the people gave to achieve freedom and the crowd of lower classes surrounding her add to the emotion emitted by painting, originating from Delacroix's mind and opinions on what should happen in the world.

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