Recently I came across a painting by Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People" or "Liberty on the Barricades." The painting is based on the popular revolt of 1830 against the last of the Bourbon dynasty, Charles H. But this painting is attributed to the symbol and image of the Great French Revolution.

Let us consider this "symbol" of the Great French Revolution in detail, taking into account the facts about this Revolution.

So from right to left: 1) - a fair-haired European with noble features.

2) with protruding ears, very similar to a gypsy, with two pistols, screams and runs forward. Well, teenagers always want to assert themselves in something. Even in the game, even in a fight, even in a riot. But he is wearing a white officer's ribbon with a leather bag and a coat of arms. So it is possible that this is a personal trophy. So this teenage boy has already killed.

3) and with surprisingly CALM FACE, with a French flag in his hand and a Phrygian cap on his head (like I'm French) and a bare chest. Here one involuntarily recalls the participation of Parisian women (possibly prostitutes) in the capture of the Bastille. Inflamed by permissiveness and the fall of law and order (that is, drunk with the air of freedom), women in the crowd of rioters entered into a skirmish with the soldiers on the walls of the Bastille fortress. They began to bare their intimate places and offer themselves to the soldiers- "Why shoot us? Better drop your weapon, come down to us and" love "us! We give you our love in exchange for your going over to the side of the rebellious people!" The soldiers chose free "love" and the Bastille fell. About the fact that the naked asses and pussies with tits of Parisians took the Bastille, and not the storming revolutionary crowd, they are now silent about this, so as not to spoil the mythologized "picture" of the "revolution". (I almost said - "Revolutions of Dignity", because I remembered the Kiev Maydauns with the flags of the outskirts.). It turns out that "Liberty Leading the People" is a cold-blooded Semitic woman of light disposition (bare chest) disguised as a Frenchwoman.

4) looking at the bare chest of "Freedom". The chest is beautiful, and it is possible that this is the last thing he sees beautiful in his life.

5), - they took off their jacket, boots and pants. The causal place of his "Freedom" sees, but from us it is hidden by the foot of the murdered. Riots, oh, revolutions, they are always not without plunder and undressing.

6). The face is slightly detached. The hair is black and curly, the eyes are slightly protruding, the wings of the nose are raised. (Who knows, he understood.) As soon as his cylinder on his head did not fall off in the dynamics of the battle and even sits so beautifully on his head? In general, this young "Frenchman" dreams of redistributing social wealth in his favor. Well, or in favor of your family. Probably does not want to stand in the shop, but wants to be like Rothschild.

7) Behind the right shoulder of a bourgeois in a top hat, is, - with a saber in his hand and a pistol in his belt, and a wide white ribbon over his shoulder (it looks like it was removed from a killed officer), his face is clearly a southerner.

Now the question is - where are the French, who are kind of Europeans(Caucasians) and who, as it were, did the Great French Revolution ??? Or even then 220 years ago the French were all completely dark "southerners"? This is despite the fact that Paris is not in the South, but in the North of France. Or are they not French? Or are they those who are called "eternal revolutionaries" in any country ???

Freedom leading the people. Liberty at the Barricades 1830
260x325cm oil / canvas
Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Liberty leading the people" (French: La Liberté guidant le peuple), or "Liberty on the barricades" is a painting by the French artist Eugene Delacroix. It is considered one of the key milestones between the Enlightenment and Romantic eras.
In the center of the picture is a woman known as Marianne - the symbol of the French Republic and the personification of the national motto "Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood" (there is an alternative point of view that the woman is not Marianne, but an allegory of the republic). In this image, Delacroix managed to combine the greatness of the ancient goddess and the courage of an ordinary woman from the people. On her head is a Phrygian cap (a symbol of freedom during the first French revolution), in her right hand is the flag of Republican France, in her left is a gun. Barefoot and bare-chested, symbolizing the dedication of the French, who are able to go to the enemy with “bare breasts”, she walks over the pile of corpses, as if leaving the canvas directly at the viewer.
Freedom is followed by representatives of various social classes - worker, bourgeois, teenager - symbolizing the unity of the French people during the July revolution. Some art historians and critics suggest that the artist depicted himself in the image of a man in a top hat to the left of the main character; others thought the playwright Etienne Arago or the Louvre's curator Frederic Villot could serve as a model.

Recently I came across a painting by Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People" or "Liberty on the Barricades." The painting is based on the popular revolt of 1830 against the last of the Bourbon dynasty, Charles H. But this painting is attributed to the symbol and image of the Great French Revolution.

Description of the painting in Wikipedia - https: //ru.wikipedia.org/wiki / ...

Let us consider this "symbol" of the Great French Revolution in detail, taking into account the facts about this Revolution.

So from right to left: 1) a killed officer of the French Army lies- a fair-haired European with noble features.

2)Black-haired curly boy with protruding ears, very similar to a gypsy, with two pistols screams and runs forward. Well, teenagers always want to assert themselves in something. Even in the game, even in a fight, even in a riot. But he is wearing a white officer's ribbon with a leather bag and a coat of arms. So it is possible that this is a personal trophy. So this teenage boy has already killed.

3)"Freedom" is a young woman with distinct Semitic features and with surprisingly CALM FACE, with a French flag in his hand and a Phrygian cap on his head (like I'm French) and a bare chest. Here one involuntarily recalls the participation of Parisian women (possibly prostitutes) in the capture of the Bastille. Inflamed by permissiveness and the fall of law and order (that is, drunk with the air of freedom), women in the crowd of rioters entered into a skirmish with the soldiers on the walls of the Bastille fortress. They began to bare their intimate places and offer themselves to the soldiers- "Why shoot us? Better drop your weapon, come down to us and" love "us! We give you our love in exchange for your going over to the side of the rebellious people!" The soldiers chose free "love" and the Bastille fell. About the fact that the naked asses and pussies with tits of Parisians took the Bastille, and not the storming revolutionary crowd, they are now silent about this, so as not to spoil the mythologized "picture" of the "revolution". (I almost said - "Revolutions of Dignity", because I remembered the Kiev Maydauns with the flags of the outskirts.). It turns out that "Liberty Leading the People" is a cold-blooded Semitic woman of light disposition (bare chest) disguised as a Frenchwoman.

4) Wounded young man staring at the bare chest of "Freedom". The chest is beautiful, and it is possible that this is the last thing he sees beautiful in his life.

5)Stripped killed, - took off their jacket, boots and pants. The causal place of his "Freedom" sees, but from us it is hidden by the foot of the murdered. Riots, oh, revolutions, they are always not without plunder and undressing.

6)Young bourgeois in a top hat with a rifle... The face is slightly detached. The hair is black and curly, the eyes are slightly protruding, the wings of the nose are raised. (Who knows, he understood.) As soon as his cylinder on his head did not fall off in the dynamics of the battle and even sits so beautifully on his head? In general, this young "Frenchman" dreams of redistributing social wealth in his favor. Well, or in favor of your family. Probably does not want to stand in the shop, but wants to be like Rothschild.

7) Behind the right shoulder of the bourgeois in a cylinder, there is figure - a la "pirates of the Caribbean", - with a saber in his hand and a pistol in his belt, and a wide white ribbon over his shoulder (it looks like it was removed from a killed officer), the face is clearly a southerner.

Now the question is - where are the French, who are kind of Europeans(Caucasians) and who, as it were, did the Great French Revolution ??? Or even then 220 years ago the French were all completely dark "southerners"? This is despite the fact that Paris is not in the South, but in the North of France. Or are they not French? Or are they those who are called "eternal revolutionaries" in any country ???

The plot of the painting "Freedom on the Barricades", exhibited at the Salon in 1831, is directed to the events of the bourgeois revolution of 1830. The artist created a kind of allegory of the alliance between the bourgeoisie, represented in the picture by a young man in a top hat, and the people who surround him. True, by the time the painting was created, the alliance of the people with the bourgeoisie had already disintegrated, and for many years it was hidden from the viewer. The painting was bought (commissioned) by Louis-Philippe, who financed the revolution, but the classic pyramidal compositional construction of this canvas emphasizes its romantic revolutionary symbolism, and energetic blue and red strokes make the plot excitedly dynamic. A clear silhouette against the background of the bright sky rises a young woman personifying Freedom in a Phrygian cap; her breasts are bared. She holds the French national flag high above her head. The heroine's gaze is fixed on a man in a top hat with a rifle, personifying the bourgeoisie; to her right, a boy waving pistols, Gavroche, is a folk hero of the streets of Paris.

The painting was donated to the Louvre by Carlos Beistegui in 1942; included in the Louvre collection in 1953.

Marfa Vsevolodovna Zamkova.
http://www.bibliotekar.ru/muzeumLuvr/46.htm

“I chose a modern plot, a scene on the barricades. .. If I did not fight for the freedom of the fatherland, then at least I should glorify this freedom, "Delacroix told his brother, referring to the painting" Freedom Leading the People "(in our country it is also known as" Freedom to barricades "). The call to fight against tyranny contained in it was heard and enthusiastically received by his contemporaries.
On the corpses of the fallen revolutionaries strides barefoot, with a bare chest, Freedom, calling for the rebels. In her raised hand, she holds the tricolor republican flag, and its colors - red, white and blue - echo across the canvas. In his masterpiece, Delacroix combined the seemingly incompatible - the protocol realism of reporting with the sublime fabric of poetic allegory. He gave a small episode of street fighting a timeless, epic sound. The central character of the canvas is Freedom, combining the stately posture of Aphrodite of Milo with those features that Auguste Barbier endowed Freedom with: “This is a strong woman with a powerful chest, with a hoarse voice, with fire in her eyes, fast, with a wide step.”

Encouraged by the successes of the 1830 Revolution, Delacroix began work on the painting on September 20 to glorify the Revolution. In March 1831 he received an award for it, and in April he exhibited the painting at the Salon. The painting with its violent force repelled the bourgeois visitors, who also reproached the artist for showing only the "rabble" in this heroic act. At the salon, in 1831, the French Ministry of the Interior buys Liberty for the Luxembourg Museum. Two years later, Svoboda, whose plot was considered too politicized, was removed from the museum and returned to the author. The king bought the painting, but, frightened by its dangerous character during the reign of the bourgeoisie, he ordered it to be hidden, rolled up, then returned to the author (1839). In 1848 the Louvre claimed the painting. In 1852 - the Second Empire. The picture is again considered subversive and sent to the storeroom. In the final months of the Second Empire, Freedom was again regarded as a great symbol, and the engravings from this composition served the cause of republican propaganda. After 3 years, it is removed from there and demonstrated at the world exhibition. At this time, Delacroix rewrites it again. Perhaps he darkens the bright red tone of the cap to soften its revolutionary look. In 1863, Delacroix dies at home. And after 11 years "Liberty" again exhibited at the Louvre.

Delacroix himself did not take part in the "three glorious days", watching what was happening from the windows of his workshop, but after the fall of the Bourbon monarchy he decided to perpetuate the image of the Revolution.

In the course of lectures to students, freshmen and sophomores of one quite large, successful and prosperous university, I undertook such an advanced pedagogical maneuver: I asked them to carefully examine Eugene Delacroix's painting "Liberty on the Barricades." And the next day to tell: what, in fact, is happening? What is the plot, as well as the inner spring of the picture? And finally, what do they notice in the picture that is unusual? Requiring an announcement - at least versions?

It cannot be said that I was guided by some secret educational plan. I just knew that this picture was familiar to children. And our topic was the curiosity of a journalist, the ability to see details. Why not? Let it be Delacroix.

What can I say? First. The spicy topless detail of the picture did not fall into the scope of discussion at all - and in our years she heavily capitalized this illustration in a textbook or in the Children's Encyclopedia. The detail has become commonplace. Nobody specifically noted her. Except for one girl who in general showed remarkable talents and imagination. But more on that later. Second, our children are naughty, I'll tell you. We need to keep this in mind.

Here are some of the versions I liked.

That's what I noticed, started the lively boy. “Here, then, there is a battle on the barricade, people are holding meetings, fighting for freedom, and in the distance other people are standing, watching, not moving. Onlookers. Here we have ...

A representative of the university hastily took the floor:

So, calmly: the university is out of politics.

But the thought was already clear.

And here's what I noticed, - another student took the floor. - After the girl-freedom, poor people follow the battle. Some kind of ragged ones. The rich don't need it.

And we have the opposite, - someone said, but even the keen eye of the mentor did not reveal the author of the remark.

But it seems to me not at all, - her companion intervened. - There are different. And it seems to me that Delacroix wanted to say with his painting that everyone needs freedom. Look, there is one in general in a top hat, in a tie. Which is with a gun. Nothing is a bum.

Here the girl, who had been pulling her hand for a long time, already jumped up.

Which in a top hat and with sideburns is generally very similar to Pushkin! The artist Delacroix could well have come to Russia, his friend Dumas was there? The picture was painted before Pushkin's death, I checked it. It may well be Pushkin!

Honestly, I have not yet found a version of this confirmation. But there is something very postmodern, even Pelevin, in her. I like it.

Meanwhile, the next interpreter took the floor:

What do we see? Reorganization is clearly underway in France, he said. Reforms are underway.

I looked once more at the flashes of a formidable fire behind the barricade, at the twisted stones, debris and dead bodies in the foreground. And I could not help but agree: yes, reforms are underway. I even remember those. In another country.

And the artist wants to show us that despite the sacrifices, the goal will be achieved. Only I didn’t understand: what kind of woman is she who is asking for something on Svoboda’s knees?

Maybe someone's mother, so that they don't kill their son, ”someone from the upper ranks subtly noticed.

Well, yes, it can. But it still remains a mystery.

I agreed.

Two students decided to answer together.

Strange: the dead body on the right has one hand completely withered. And the other is not withered, - said the first.

I honestly recorded this riddle as well.

I found it odd that the houses in the background were so tall. Did they build such houses then? - asked another student.

It should be noted here that the children know little about the past, which is beyond the scope of the school curriculum, and even not so distant, I already understood this. None of them knew who Boris Kustodiev was. Fyodor Chaliapin. Even Vasily Peskov! So what about the houses and other towers - it was forgivable: they did not enter the architectural one. And the rest of the local teachers will teach, I'm sure. You can't get overwhelmed with them - in the best sense of the word.

The stream of versions gradually dried up, and then a girl from the first row raised her hand, who made notes during my broadcasts, and reacted vividly.

There is a lot of mystery in this picture, ”she said. - But, to be honest, I have no clear answer to one question: why is a young man, killed, lying in the foreground without pants?

It is understandable, everyone was buzzing. Laughs. Assumptions. And I remembered that Edgar Poe had put the letter in the foreground so that no one would find it.

Of course, in the classical tradition it was to paint naked people. And, although Delacroix is ​​a romantic, he has adopted a lot, ”I inserted from what I had read the day before. - But, I feel, this is not the case?

I think that's not the point, - said the girl.

Everything was quiet.

If you imagine what happened before the moment depicted by the artist, then ... Maybe they loved each other? This young man - and she.

Who? - asked the most dull-witted from the audience.

Freedom, said the girl. - And he, for example, was a standard-bearer. She came to check on him at the scene of street fighting, maybe even brought some food. And then he was killed. She took his banner. And forward. And what, there were such - over there, the wives followed the Decembrists to Siberia.

She stood like this, with her opinion, as if on a barricade - and behind her the hall was silent, thinking.

And even some flashes of light ran along the back wall: the sunset must have filtered through the huge windows, and it was late afternoon.

In short, we gave this girl the first simple prize of our improvised competition, although I understand that not all teachers will approve of us: it’s not good without pants. And then they applauded her for a long time and sincerely.

Yes, we have normal children! And they remind me of someone.

P.S. Since I do not have the transcript of that lecture yet, it is quite possible that I changed places, combined something, and even conjectured. Just a little bit. When the transcript appears, it will be possible to conduct another useful and instructive lesson - comparing the truth of the fact and the text. But that's a completely different story.

Illustration: Eugene Delacroix. Freedom leading the people. 1830 g.