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| Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix Source: Wikipedia |
Liberty Leading the People is a famous painting by the acclaimed painter Eugene Delacroix. One of the most recognized pieces of art, it has become iconic of the French Revolution (although it was a commemorative of the 1830 July Revolution in France. By its use of the tricolour it invoked again the ideals of the earlier French Revolution). While I accept the validity of the intentional meaning the auteur-painter has advanced to his work, I will try to reinterpret the meaning of the painting that will act as an interpretation not only of the work but also of the moment it portrays, the French Revolution.
The centrepiece of the painting is the bare-breasted lady with the French flag who leads an armed crowd over the corpses of slain officers. Even though female nudity is normal in paintings, and is assigned various meanings, what is intriguing in this one are three things: identity of the lady, the location of the lady and the bearing of the location to the meaning of nudity.
Firstly, the identity of the lady. Who is she? She is a woman from the lower-classes (evident from her clothing). She holds aloft the French flag. She is Marianne, the allegorical representation of the nation of France and also the ‘goddess of the liberty’. Secondly, the location of the lady. She stands in the middle of the battle, heroically leading the people against the police and the military. As the two arms of the state, police and the army represent the French monarchical state and Marianne is leading the French nation against the state in a revolution. Thirdly, the significance of the location to the meaning of the nudity. Marianne’s frontal nudity is suggestive of quite a different meaning than the one usually assigned to nude females in paintings. She is not either a Venus-like goddess figure or an aristocratic lady who is reclining in a dewan in her boudoir. She doesn’t represent purity or conveys a sense of sensuality. The place where she stands, the battlefield, precludes both. Also, her nudity doesn’t seem to be voluntary. The top portion of her gown has been forced down and is indicative of an assault. She has been violated and she is in a murderous rage. Marianne represents the honour of the French nation which has been violated. Marianne, the personification of the French nation, leads the people against the state who violated her, in search of justice through retribution.
For me, the painting represents the quest of Marianne, the French nation, for justice through revolution. As such, Marianne exacts justice through violent retribution. Therefore, we may interpret the meaning of the French Revolution, the moment the painting portrays, as the revenge of the nation (the people) against the state and the Old Order who exploited them without bounds. The revolution represents the moment of retributive justice in the history of France. The validity of the interpretation i.e. ‘revolution as vengeance’, is amply borne out by the violent history of the revolution.
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