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[intro: theme music]

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>>DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: We're in the Musée du Louvre

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and we're looking at Delacroix's 'Liberty Leading the People'.

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This is one of the most historically important

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paintings in this collection.

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>>DR. BETH HARRIS: And it's important to remember

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I think, how radical this painting was.

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It's republican revolutionary politics were palpable.

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A little bit, perhaps, lost to us, I think, today.

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The painting shows the revolution of 1830

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on the streets of Paris.

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And what we see is a barricade,

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which was a makeshift blockade.

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>>ZUCKER: And remember that Paris at this time

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was really a medieval city.

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And so the streets were narrow,

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and they were winding,

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and it was easy to block off French troops.

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And they were made of furniture.

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They were made of wagons.

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They were made especially of cobblestones.

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And you can see the cobblestones

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down in the very foreground.

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>>HARRIS: Over those cobblestones

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strides a figure who one would not have

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actually seen on the streets of Paris.

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So we know this mixture of the real and the unreal,

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because we have this allegorical figure of Liberty herself,

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carrying the French tricolor flag which represents

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equality, fraternity, and liberty—

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the values of the revolution.

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>>ZUCKER: So in the United States,

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we would recognize this figure as the Statue of Liberty,

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not a specific individual, but in fact

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the embodiment or personification of an idea,

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the idea of freedom.

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>>HARRIS: So it's important to remember here

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that what's happened is a monarchy

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had been restored in France that was

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very politically oppressive.

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And the revolution in July of 1830 was against

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that restored King Charles the Tenth

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and brought into power a constitutional monarchy.

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Presumably, a king that would be more friendly

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to the needs of the middle class.

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>>ZUCKER: So there were three days of...

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beyond protest, of open warfare

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in the streets of Paris.

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Charles the Tenth actually flees France.

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And his cousin Louis Philippe is put on the throne.

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And Delacroix is watching this from his window.

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>>HARRIS: And the violence is really frightening.

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We have in the foreground dead members

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of both sides of this fight.

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>>ZUCKER: The figure on the left is really brutal.

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If you look closely, it's clear that he's in his night shirt.

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And one of the practices of the repressive

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government was to go after the opposition

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in their homes, beat them to death,

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and drag them into the streets as a reminder: "Do not do this."

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There's a very famous Daumier: 'Rue Transnonain'

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that shows a family that has been killed

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in their bedroom.

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>>HARRIS: And on the right,

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a member of the other side of the king's forces.

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Who's dead or wounded in the foreground.

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>>ZUCKER: And that's important because

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I think that's a reminder that

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even the royal troops are not invincible.

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>>HARRIS: Liberty strides forward.

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She's incredibly powerful.

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And importantly, Delacroix is giving her

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kind of realism.

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That was very important, I think, in terms

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of this message.

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I think if the figure had been

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an ancient Greek looking figure,

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we would have lost some of the strength of this image.

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We see her in profile, starkly lit,

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with a kind of Caravaggio-esque lighting.

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Her arm forward with the flag, her other arm carrying

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the bayonet, striding over the barricade.

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A figure that leads the people on with this idea of liberty.

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>>ZUCKER: So, I see exactly what you're saying.

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But I also disagree.

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Because I think that Delacroix isn't viewing

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this figure with all of those very human attributes

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that we're talking about.

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All of that sense of leadership and all of the

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allegorical power that she represents.

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But at the same time, I think Delacroix

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is actually very consciously drawing on the ancient tradition.

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The perfect profile, which is the most noble way

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of representing the face according to the classical world

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remind us of Roman coinage, for instance.

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>>HARRIS: So it's not as if Delacroix looked out

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of his window and actually saw this.

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And that's not just because of

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the allegorical figure of Liberty.

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The figures are carefully composed in the shape of a pyramid.

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And Delacroix has also included very different

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types of figures intentionally.

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Showing the range of people who participated

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in the revolution of 1830.

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>>ZUCKER: So not only do you have the man wearing the top hat,

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a member of the bourgeoisie, of the middle class,

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but next to him is a craftsmen—a workman—

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in his shirt sleeves,

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who probably can't afford that nice rifle.

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But they are together opposing the monarchy.

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>>HARRIS: And so there was a real

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political message here of the power of the people

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to overthrow a government.

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And the government of Louis Philippe that came

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into power purchased this painting,

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but later this message started to feel

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a little bit uncomfortable.

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>>ZUCKER: A little too radical.

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>>HARRIS: A little too radical. In fact, the government of Louis Philippe,

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although a constitutional monarchy, still only a very small fraction

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of the French people were able to vote.

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We're talking about a government that was still

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favorable only to the interests of real elite.

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And so the power of the people that we see here in this painting

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became dangerous, and the painting was taken down

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and not exhibited again until the revolution of 1848.

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>>ZUCKER: We'll look, for instance, at the extreme right side of the canvas

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and you can make out the two towers of Notre Dame

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rising above the smoke of battle.

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And if you look very closely you can see the tricolor

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on that symbol of the monarchy.

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And so this was such a radical image.

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>>HARRIS: Liberty is moving directly into our space

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leading the people forward.

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You can see why this painting ended up going

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essentially into storage.

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[ending: theme music]