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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]
