
by Eugène Delacroix, 1830
Eugène Delacroix completed this Liberty Leading the People in 1830, just months after the July Revolution that overthrew King Charles X. The allegorical figure of Liberty, bare-breasted and holding the tricolor flag, strides over fallen bodies while leading armed citizens forward. The towers of Notre-Dame rise through the gunsmoke behind her.
This isn't purely allegorical. Delacroix painted actual Parisians fighting alongside Liberty: a bourgeois in a top hat, a street urchin with pistols, workers and students. The artist himself may appear as the figure in the top hat. The raw energy and violence shocked contemporary viewers accustomed to idealized history paintings.
The French government purchased the painting but quickly hid it away, considering it too inflammatory for public display. It hung in the Louvre from 1874 onward, becoming a symbol of French republicanism. The image has influenced everything from postage stamps to Coldplay album covers.

Ancient Roman (Unknown), -100
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Gerard ter Borch
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Jacques-Louis David
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Bernardino Luini
Louvre, Paris, Paris
Other masterpieces from the Romanticism movement

Francisco Goya, 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

John Constable, 1821
National Gallery, London

Francisco Goya, 1814
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Francisco Goya, 1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Francisco Goya, 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

J.M.W. Turner, 1839
National Gallery, London

Francisco Goya, 1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Jean-François Millet, 1859
Musée d'Orsay, Paris
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