This is the painting Liberty Leading the People, also known as Liberty on the Barricades, by Ferdinand Eugene Victor Delacroix best known as Eugene Delacroix. It was painted 28^th of July 1830. It is a political painting which is painted in the Romanticism style. The strokes of the brush show emotion and the use of colour is stunning in many ways. There is a great contrast between light and darkness, also the difference between the living and the dead. Not only because they are standing on a pile of dead bodies but the fact that they won on the cost of lives. The woman is a sign of liberty; she is half naked just like one of the dead bodies in front of her. She is holding the tricolour flag, and her figure is cast in a beam of light. The skin on her upper body looks fair and clean, but the dirt on her dress and feet becomes more and more apparent the further down you look.

There are also class differences between the rich and the poor, and the old and the young. The most dramatic person and effect in the painting is the half naked woman holding the flag. It is a dramatic center piece that draws your attention to her face. The details in the fabric draw your attention to her naked breasts and further towards the young boy in the background behind her, holding a gun in each hand. This again draws your focus back to the woman and the rifle she’s holding and the white smoke that drifts behind them as a sign of the workers in the back and depths of the painting. The white smoke behind her emphasises her pure look and as you look lower down on her body the dirty tainted feeling comes back.

The person kneeling beneath the woman and the victorious also wears the colours of the flag, white, red and blue. Maybe he or she is injured and relived gazing up at this magnificent strong woman who is glorious in her power and strength, at this time not common or accepted, but non-the less the victorious leader in the revolution. Her face is strong, stern and controlled. It is the face of a leader.

In the distance you can se buildings and the mass of the people in the background disappearing into the white smoke behind the woman of liberty. You can see that the smoke is coming from a low burning fire that only smokes behind her. When you look closer you can also see the red/orange embers in the wood logs that sticks up from the ground. The smoke covers the people in the background; you can see that they hold weapons, swords and guns. The anger and victory is a mixed message, where you can see that they follow the woman in the front.

In the way that the woman is painted, half naked with her breast bare and hanging uncovered out of the dress with one uncovered arm. She seems more naked than what she would have done without the clothes; the rawness and the brutality that surrounds her make her seem vulnerable with the graceful, strong closed expression on her face. The dirt on her clothes make the lover part of her body seems tainted by the environment and death, but it doesn’t reach her face. She shows signs of innocence at the same time, as he doesn’t – she is tainted by the war. She is no longer pure. The boy beside her states this even more – this is not a glorious victory. It has come on the cost of many lives. This shows on the bare footed woman in the center, which is constructed like a pyramid where she is the peak that unfolds on the people on her sides. She is lacking the virgin innocence. Is she a Venus?

Yet again she lacks the normal traits of a Venus. She is a war heroine and the victories leader. She is no longer an innocent woman lead by men. She is a sign of independence, not bound by the boundaries and need of a man. She is strong on her own, the victorious leader. The glorious leader of a movement that caused the revolution. Maybe she is the model of the modern Venus, the one to show that women can also make a difference stand out and be equal to the men.

The person in the left corner has a crazy angry look about him. He is also holding a rock, showing that the fight is not over for him and that he’s ready for more – ready to kill anyone who might still be alive. It seems like he is looking at the dead half naked person in front of him. Maybe he’s the one that killed the half naked man, and if not, the agony and anger shown in the expression on his face make it seem like he wished it was him that killed the half naked man with only one of his socks on.

Delacroix painted himself into the painting as he could not join the fight, but he wanted to show the fight for liberty. He painted the fight as the only thing he could do to show his support to the fight. This painting was seen as the first political painting in the modern world. The question I have that stands out in particular in this piece is: Why is a woman painted as the leader? Because at the time women were not considered equal to men, nor did they have the authority or the right to take the place of a man. So why is she there? Why is she the one who leads the revolution instead of a man?

The thoughts I have around this is that the woman has throughout the history stood for purity and passion among the feeling of righteousness. The struggle of equal rights to have a voice and to be heard has been a struggle of the woman throughout the history. The symbolism of the woman as the leader is before its time. The face of the woman in this painting was used as a model for the statue of liberty in New York. She also became the symbol of liberty because of Delacroix and how he used her as a liberating figure of freedom and rights, as a token on equal rights, poor, rich, woman or as a man.

The power of a woman as a leader of a fight for liberty is a bold statement; the woman was regarded as a weaker being and not as skilled or as wise as the man were considered to be at the time. So when he painted the woman as the leader and the winner of the fight for liberty it was an unusual statement. It is different and it shows a liberating idea, where the woman can be equal to the men. The woman is no longer pure she is tainted with the weight of war and the responsibility of the deaths of the comrades and the enemy. The weight of the evil wrong doings of war is put on the shoulders of this woman – the burden that is usually burdened on the shoulders of a man, who is seen as the one to protect and guide the people. The man as a leader, and the one to blame and to honour for the victories or the defeat of the war or a revolution. The woman was not trusted as she was not as good as a man; she was only worth to take care of the home or the children. She as a woman had no power to her words, wisdom or actions, she was week compared to a man and what a man could accomplish.

The woman is also holding the flag, as a symbol of victory, yet again a sign on the importance this woman has in this painting and independence. She is a great contrast to the well clothed man with the top hat, which she share a look with, it might seem like they are looking at each other maybe also in the eyes of each other. This strengthens the feeling of nudity and pureness of this woman, is there a connection between the two or is it just the painter’s wishes to strengthen the importance of the victory of this woman. The person at her feet clearly looking up at her, in respect or sub come to her glory and power as a leader. This person is bowing before her feet looking up at this strong beautiful woman who shows strength and determination. As a sign of submission to this woman and her accomplishment, the surrender to the power for the person who has won the revolution, regardless of the sex. How this person lifts himself up on his arms empowers the feeling and the symbolism of kneeling as in front of a god, or the power of a Venus.

The dead bodies surrounding her are all male bodies, solders and commoners. She is the only woman that is clearly visible in this painting, why is she the only one? I would say that she is the only one to get a stronger and clearer message to the viewers. To enhance the strength and power that she shows, as well as the child beside her strengthen this feeling. The sunshine hits her and makes her light up, as well as the dead naked man beneath her. The feeling of nudity is strong as if she is standing naked in front of all the men, in the spotlight of her action and at their judgment. The flag is clean as well as her upper naked body, which is another sign of purity. The fact that she is carrying a weapon seems less important because it is hidden in the shadows, it is there but it is not highlighted. The face of the boy beside her is a stronger indicator on the impact of the revolution. Just by the fact that it is a boy who is a part or the revolution shows the importance of the outcome of this fight. They are separated from the rest of the crowd, beside the kneeling man by the woman’s feet. It is almost painted in a way that you expect the child to hold the woman’s hand, but then again he is not; in his hands are guns and the woman holds a rifle. It is a statement that contradicts the norms of expectations of what you see and assumptions of what you will see when you see a woman and a child. The painter is breaking all of the normal assumptions and legacy where the woman is known as the one who stays home and takes care of the children, and takes care of the house, clean and cook. The woman should be submissive to the man and not equal.  They are one, yet they are separated by the revolution and by the power she wields as the leader of this revolution as the victorious leader.

The attention to details in this piece is very beautiful and powerful; your eyes flow effortlessly over the painting. It drags you in the direction of the people’s faces. To their expression, it takes you back to the moment, even though it is so distant and so many years ago. It takes your attention to the details in the brush strokes, and to the details in every curve and stroke on the fabric, to the smallest details of colour on the uniforms. This is a powerful statement from the painter as his contribution to the revolution for liberty.