Eugene Delacroix. Freedom leading the people to the barricades
In his diary, the young Eugene Delacroix wrote on May 9, 1824: "I felt the desire to write on contemporary subjects." It was not random phrase, a month earlier he wrote down a similar phrase: "I want to write on the plots of the revolution." The artist has repeatedly spoken about the desire to write on contemporary themes, but very rarely realized these Desires of his. This happened because Delacroix believed: "... everything should be sacrificed for the sake of harmony and the real transmission of the plot. We must do without models in the paintings. A living model never corresponds exactly to the image that we want to convey: the model is either vulgar or inferior or her beauty is so different and more perfect that everything has to be changed.
The artist preferred plots from novels to the beauty of a life model. "What should be done to find a plot?" he asks himself one day. "Open a book that can inspire and trust your mood!" And he sacredly follows his own advice: every year the book becomes more and more a source of themes and plots for him.
Thus, the wall gradually grew and strengthened, separating Delacroix and his art from reality. Thus closed in his solitude, the revolution of 1830 found him. Everything that a few days ago constituted the meaning of the life of the romantic generation was instantly thrown far back, began to "look small" and unnecessary in the face of the grandeur of the events that had taken place.
The astonishment and enthusiasm experienced during these days invade the secluded life of Delacroix. Reality loses its repulsive shell of vulgarity and everydayness for him, revealing real greatness, which he never saw in it and which he had previously sought in Byron's poems, historical chronicles, ancient mythology and in the East.
The July days echoed in the soul of Eugene Delacroix with the idea of a new painting. The barricade battles of July 27, 28 and 29 in French history decided the outcome of a political upheaval. These days, King Charles X, the last representative of the Bourbon dynasty hated by the people, was overthrown. For the first time for Delacroix, this was not a historical, literary or oriental subject, but the most real life. However, before this idea was embodied, he had to go through a long and difficult path of change.
R. Escollier, the artist's biographer, wrote: "At the very beginning, under the first impression of what he saw, Delacroix did not intend to depict Freedom among its adherents ... He simply wanted to reproduce one of the July episodes, such as the death of d" Arcole ". Yes , then many feats were accomplished and sacrifices were made. The heroic death of d "Arcol is associated with the capture of the Paris City Hall by the rebels. On the day when the royal troops kept under fire the suspension bridge Greve, a young man appeared who rushed to the town hall. He exclaimed: "If I die, remember that my name is d" Arcole ". He really was killed, but he managed to drag the people along with him and the town hall was taken.
Eugene Delacroix made a sketch with a pen, which, perhaps, became the first sketch for a future painting. The fact that this was not an ordinary drawing is evidenced by the exact choice of the moment, and the completeness of the composition, and the thoughtful accents on individual figures, and the architectural background, organically merged with the action, and other details. This drawing could indeed serve as a sketch for a future painting, but the art critic E. Kozhina believed that it remained just a sketch that had nothing to do with the canvas that Delacroix painted later.
The artist is no longer getting enough of the figure of d'Arcol alone, rushing forward and captivating the rebels with his heroic impulse. Eugene Delacroix conveys this central role to Freedom itself.
The artist was not a revolutionary and he himself admitted it: "I am a rebel, but not a revolutionary." Politics was of little interest to him, which is why he wanted to portray not a separate fleeting episode (even if it was the heroic death of d "Arcola), not even a separate historical fact, but the nature of the whole event. So, the scene of action, Paris, can only be judged by a piece written in the background of the picture with right side(in the depths, the banner raised on the tower of the Notre Dame Cathedral is barely visible), and in the city houses. The scale, the feeling of the immensity and scope of what is happening - this is what Delacroix tells his huge canvas and what the image of a private episode, even if majestic, would not give.
The composition of the picture is very dynamic. In the center of the picture is a group of armed men in simple clothes, it moves towards the foreground of the picture and to the right.
Because of the powder smoke, the square is not visible, nor is it visible how large this group itself is. The pressure of the crowd filling the depth of the picture forms an ever-increasing internal pressure, which must inevitably break through. And so, ahead of the crowd, from a cloud of smoke to the top of the taken barricade, a beautiful woman with the tricolor republican banner in right hand and a gun with a bayonet in the left.
On her head is a red Phrygian cap of the Jacobins, her clothes flutter, exposing her chest, the profile of her face resembles the classical features of the Venus de Milo. This is Freedom, full of strength and inspiration, which shows the way to the fighters with a decisive and courageous movement. Leading people through the barricades, Svoboda does not order or command - she encourages and leads the rebels.
When working on a picture in Delacroix's worldview, two opposite principles collided - inspiration inspired by reality, and on the other hand, a distrust of this reality that had long been rooted in his mind. Distrust of the fact that life can be beautiful in itself, that human images and purely pictorial means can convey the idea of the picture in its entirety. This distrust dictated Delacroix's symbolic figure of Liberty and some other allegorical refinements.
The artist transfers the whole event into the world of allegory, we reflect the idea in the same way as the Rubens idolized by him did (Delacroix told the young Edouard Manet: “You need to see Rubens, you need to feel Rubens, you need to copy Rubens, because Rubens is a god”) in their compositions, personifying abstract concepts. But Delacroix still does not follow his idol in everything: Freedom for him is symbolized not by an ancient deity, but by the simplest woman, who, however, becomes royally majestic.
Allegorical Freedom is full of vital truth, in a swift impulse it goes ahead of the column of revolutionaries, dragging them along and expressing the highest meaning of the struggle - the power of an idea and the possibility of victory. If we did not know that the Nika of Samothrace was dug out of the ground after the death of Delacroix, it could be assumed that the artist was inspired by this masterpiece.
Many art historians noted and reproached Delacroix for the fact that all the greatness of his painting cannot obscure the impression that at first turns out to be only barely noticeable. It's about about the clash in the mind of the artist of opposing aspirations, which left its mark even in the completed canvas, Delacroix's hesitation between a sincere desire to show reality (as he saw it) and an involuntary desire to raise it to cothurna, between the attraction to painting emotional, direct and already established, familiar to artistic tradition. Many were not satisfied that the most ruthless realism, which horrified the well-meaning audience of art salons, was combined in this picture with impeccable, ideal beauty. Noting as a virtue the feeling of life authenticity, which had never before been manifested in the work of Delacroix (and never again then), the artist was reproached for the generalization and symbolism of the image of Freedom. However, for the generalization of other images, blaming the artist for the fact that the naturalistic nakedness of a corpse in the foreground is adjacent to the nakedness of Freedom.
This duality did not escape both Delacroix's contemporaries and later connoisseurs and critics. Even 25 years later, when the public was already accustomed to the naturalism of Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet, Maxime Ducan still raged before "Liberty on the Barricades", forgetting about any restraint of expressions: "Oh, if Freedom is like that, if this girl with bare feet and bare-breasted, which runs, shouting and brandishing a gun, then we do not need it. We have nothing to do with this shameful vixen!
But, reproaching Delacroix, what could be opposed to his picture? The revolution of 1830 was reflected in the work of other artists. After these events, the royal throne was occupied by Louis Philippe, who tried to present his coming to power as almost the only content of the revolution. Many artists who have taken this approach to the topic have rushed along the path of least resistance. Revolution, like a spontaneous popular wave, like a grandiose popular impulse, for these masters, it seems that it does not exist at all. They seem to be in a hurry to forget everything they saw on the Parisian streets in July 1830, and the “three glorious days” appear in their image as quite well-intentioned actions of Parisian citizens who were only concerned with how to quickly acquire a new king to replace the exiled one. These works include Fontaine's painting "Guards Proclaiming King Louis-Philippe" or the painting by O. Berne "The Duke of Orleans Leaving the Palais-Royal".
But, pointing to the allegorical nature of the main image, some researchers forget to note that the allegorical nature of Freedom does not at all create dissonance with the rest of the figures in the picture, does not look as alien and exceptional in the picture as it might seem at first glance. After all, the rest acting characters in essence and in their role are also allegorical. In their person, Delacroix, as it were, brings to the fore those forces that made the revolution: the workers, the intelligentsia and the plebs of Paris. A worker in a blouse and a student (or artist) with a gun are representatives of quite definite strata of society. These are, undoubtedly, bright and reliable images, but Delacroix brings this generalization of them to symbols. And this allegoricalness, which is already clearly felt in them, reaches its highest development in the figure of Freedom. This is a formidable and beautiful goddess, and at the same time she is a daring Parisian. And nearby, a nimble, disheveled boy is jumping on stones, screaming with delight and brandishing pistols (as if orchestrating events), a little genius of the Parisian barricades, whom Victor Hugo will call Gavroche in 25 years.
The painting "Freedom on the Barricades" ends the romantic period in the work of Delacroix. The artist himself was very fond of this painting of his and made a lot of efforts to get it into the Louvre. However, after the "bourgeois monarchy" seized power, the exhibition of this canvas was banned. Only in 1848, Delacroix was able to exhibit his painting once more, and even for quite a long time, but after the defeat of the revolution, it ended up in the storeroom for a long time. The true meaning of this work by Delacroix is determined by its second name, unofficial: many have long been accustomed to seeing in this picture the "Marseillaise of French Painting."
"One Hundred Great Paintings" by N. A. Ionina, publishing house "Veche", 2002
Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix(1798-1863) - French painter and graphic artist, leader of the romantic trend in European painting.
In his diary, the young Eugene Delacroix wrote on May 9, 1824: “I felt the desire to write on contemporary subjects.” This was not a random phrase, a month earlier he wrote down a similar phrase: “I want to write on the plots of the revolution.” The artist has repeatedly spoken about his desire to write on contemporary topics, but very rarely realized these desires of his. This happened because Delacroix believed: “... everything should be sacrificed for the sake of harmony and a real transmission of the plot. We must manage in pictures without models. A living model never corresponds exactly to the image that we want to convey: the model is either vulgar, or inferior, or its beauty is so different and more perfect that everything has to be changed.”
The artist preferred plots from novels to the beauty of a life model. “What should be done to find the plot? he asks himself one day. “Open a book that can inspire and trust your mood!” And he sacredly follows his own advice: every year the book becomes more and more a source of themes and plots for him.
Thus, the wall gradually grew and strengthened, separating Delacroix and his art from reality. Thus closed in his solitude, the revolution of 1830 found him. Everything that a few days ago constituted the meaning of the life of the romantic generation was instantly thrown far back, began to “look small” and unnecessary in the face of the grandeur of the events that had taken place.
The astonishment and enthusiasm experienced during these days invade the secluded life of Delacroix. Reality loses its repulsive shell of vulgarity and everydayness for him, revealing real greatness, which he never saw in it and which he had previously sought in Byron's poems, historical chronicles, ancient mythology and in the East.
The July days echoed in the soul of Eugene Delacroix with the idea of a new painting. The barricade battles of July 27, 28 and 29 in French history decided the outcome of a political upheaval. These days, King Charles X, the last representative of the Bourbon dynasty hated by the people, was overthrown. For the first time for Delacroix, this was not a historical, literary or oriental plot, but real life. However, before this idea was embodied, he had to go through a long and difficult path of change.
R. Escollier, the biographer of the artist, wrote: “At the very beginning, under the first impression of what he saw, Delacroix did not intend to depict Freedom among its adherents ... He simply wanted to reproduce one of the July episodes, such as the death of d’Arcol.” Yes, then many feats were accomplished and sacrifices were made. The heroic death of d'Arcol is connected with the capture of the Paris city hall by the rebels. On the day when the royal troops kept under fire the suspension bridge Greve, a young man appeared who rushed to the town hall. He exclaimed: "If I die, remember that my name is d'Arcol." He really was killed, but managed to captivate the people and the town hall was taken.
Eugene Delacroix made a sketch with a pen, which, perhaps, became the first sketch for a future painting. The fact that this was not an ordinary drawing is evidenced by the exact choice of the moment, and the completeness of the composition, and the thoughtful accents on individual figures, and the architectural background, organically merged with the action, and other details. This drawing could indeed serve as a sketch for a future painting, but the art critic E. Kozhina believed that it remained just a sketch that had nothing to do with the canvas that Delacroix painted later.
The artist is no longer satisfied with the figure of d'Arcol alone, rushing forward and captivating the rebels with his heroic impulse. Eugene Delacroix transfers this central role to Liberty itself.
The artist was not a revolutionary and he himself admitted it: "I am a rebel, but not a revolutionary." Politics was of little interest to him, which is why he wanted to depict not a single fleeting episode (even if it was the heroic death of d'Arcol), not even a single historical fact, but the nature of the whole event. So, the place of action, Paris, can only be judged by a piece written in the background of the picture on the right side (in the depths, the banner raised on the tower of Notre Dame Cathedral is barely visible), but by city houses. The scale, the feeling of the immensity and scope of what is happening - this is what Delacroix tells his huge canvas and what the image of a private episode, even if majestic, would not give.
The composition of the picture is very dynamic. In the center of the picture is a group of armed men in simple clothes, it moves towards the foreground of the picture and to the right. Because of the powder smoke, the square is not visible, nor is it visible how large this group itself is. The pressure of the crowd filling the depth of the picture forms an ever-increasing internal pressure, which must inevitably break through. And so, ahead of the crowd, from a cloud of smoke to the top of the taken barricade, a beautiful woman with a three-color republican banner in her right hand and a gun with a bayonet in her left took a wide step. On her head is a red Phrygian cap of the Jacobins, her clothes flutter, exposing her chest, the profile of her face resembles the classical features of the Venus de Milo. This is Freedom, full of strength and inspiration, which shows the way to the fighters with a decisive and courageous movement. Leading people through the barricades, Svoboda does not order or command - she encourages and leads the rebels.
When working on a picture in Delacroix's worldview, two opposite principles collided - inspiration inspired by reality, and on the other hand, a distrust of this reality that had long been rooted in his mind. Distrust of the fact that life can be beautiful in itself, that human images and purely pictorial means can convey the idea of the picture in its entirety. This distrust dictated Delacroix's symbolic figure of Liberty and some other allegorical refinements.
The artist transfers the whole event into the world of allegory, we reflect the idea in the same way as Rubens, whom he idolizes (Delacroix told the young Edouard Manet: “You need to see Rubens, you need to be imbued with Rubens, you need to copy Rubens, for Rubens is a god”) in their compositions, personifying abstract concepts. But Delacroix still does not follow his idol in everything: freedom for him is symbolized not by an ancient deity, but by the simplest woman, who, however, becomes royally majestic.
Allegorical Freedom is full of vital truth, in a swift impulse it goes ahead of the column of revolutionaries, dragging them along and expressing the highest meaning of the struggle - the power of the idea and the possibility of victory. If we did not know that the Nika of Samothrace was dug out of the ground after the death of Delacroix, it could be assumed that the artist was inspired by this masterpiece.
Many art historians noted and reproached Delacroix for the fact that all the greatness of his painting cannot obscure the impression that at first turns out to be only barely noticeable. We are talking about a clash in the mind of the artist of opposing aspirations, which left its mark even in the completed canvas, Delacroix's hesitation between a sincere desire to show reality (as he saw it) and an involuntary desire to raise it to cothurna, between an attraction to painting emotional, direct and already established accustomed to the artistic tradition. Many were not satisfied that the most ruthless realism, which horrified the well-meaning audience of art salons, was combined in this picture with impeccable, ideal beauty. Noting as a virtue the feeling of life authenticity, which had never before been manifested in the work of Delacroix (and never again then), the artist was reproached for the generalization and symbolism of the image of Freedom. However, for the generalization of other images, blaming the artist for the fact that the naturalistic nakedness of a corpse in the foreground is adjacent to the nakedness of Freedom.
This duality did not escape both Delacroix's contemporaries and later connoisseurs and critics. Even 25 years later, when the public was already accustomed to the naturalism of Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet, Maxime Ducan still raged before “Liberty on the Barricades”, forgetting about any restraint of expressions: “Oh, if Freedom is like that, if this girl with bare feet and bare-breasted, which runs, shouting and brandishing a gun, then we do not need it. We have nothing to do with this shameful vixen!”
But, reproaching Delacroix, what could be opposed to his picture? The revolution of 1830 was reflected in the work of other artists. After these events, the royal throne was occupied by Louis Philippe, who tried to present his coming to power as almost the only content of the revolution. Many artists who have taken this approach to the topic have rushed along the path of least resistance. Revolution, like a spontaneous popular wave, like a grandiose popular impulse, for these masters, it seems that it does not exist at all. They seem to be in a hurry to forget everything they saw on the Parisian streets in July 1830, and the “three glorious days” appear in their depiction as quite well-meaning actions of Parisian citizens who were only concerned with how to quickly acquire a new king to replace the exiled one. These works include Fontaine's painting "Guards Proclaiming King Louis-Philippe" or the painting by O. Berne "The Duke of Orleans Leaving the Palais-Royal".
But, pointing to the allegorical nature of the main image, some researchers forget to note that the allegorical nature of Freedom does not at all create dissonance with the rest of the figures in the picture, does not look as alien and exceptional in the picture as it might seem at first glance. After all, the rest of the acting characters are also allegorical in essence and in their role. In their person, Delacroix, as it were, brings to the fore those forces that made the revolution: the workers, the intelligentsia and the plebs of Paris. A worker in a blouse and a student (or artist) with a gun are representatives of quite definite strata of society. These are, undoubtedly, bright and reliable images, but Delacroix brings this generalization of them to symbols. And this allegoricalness, which is already clearly felt in them, reaches its highest development in the figure of Freedom. This is a formidable and beautiful goddess, and at the same time she is a daring Parisian. And next to him, jumping on stones, screaming with delight and brandishing pistols (as if orchestrating events), a nimble, disheveled boy is a little genius of the Parisian barricades, whom Victor Hugo will call Gavroche in 25 years.
The painting “Freedom on the Barricades” ends the romantic period in the work of Delacroix. The artist himself was very fond of this painting of his and made a lot of efforts to get it into the Louvre. However, after the seizure of power by the “bourgeois monarchy”, the exposition of this canvas was banned. Only in 1848, Delacroix was able to exhibit his painting once more, and even for quite a long time, but after the defeat of the revolution, it ended up in the storeroom for a long time. The true meaning of this work by Delacroix is determined by its second name, unofficial: many have long been accustomed to seeing in this picture the “Marseillaise of French Painting”.
A revolution always takes you by surprise. You live, you live quietly, and all of a sudden there are barricades on the streets, and government buildings are in the hands of the rebels. And you need to somehow react: one will join the crowd, the other will lock himself at home, and the third will portray the rebellion in the picture
1 FIGURE OF FREEDOM. According to Etienne Julie, Delacroix painted the face of a woman from the famous Parisian revolutionary, the laundress Anna-Charlotte, who went to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guards.
2 Phrygian cap- a symbol of liberation (such caps were worn in the ancient world by freed slaves).
3 NUDE CHEST- a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy (a naked chest shows that Svoboda, like a commoner, does not wear a corset).
4 FEET OF FREEDOM. Delacroix's freedom is barefoot - so in Ancient Rome it was customary to depict the gods.
5 TRICOLOR- a symbol of the French national idea: freedom (blue), equality (white) and fraternity (red). During the events in Paris, it was perceived not as a republican flag (most of the rebels were monarchists), but as an anti-Bourbon flag.
6 FIGURE IN A CYLINDER. This is both a generalized image of the French bourgeoisie and, at the same time, a self-portrait of the artist.
7 FIGURE IN A BERET symbolizes the working class. Such berets were worn by Parisian printers, who were the first to take to the streets: after all, according to the decree of Charles X on the abolition of freedom of the press, most printing houses had to be closed, and their workers were left without a livelihood.
8 FIGURE IN A BIKORN (TWO-CORNER) is a student of the Polytechnic School, which symbolizes the intelligentsia.
9 YELLOW-BLUE FLAG- a symbol of the Bonapartists (Napoleon's heraldic colors). Among the rebels there were many military men who fought in the army of the emperor. Most of them were dismissed by Charles X on half-pay.
10 FIGURE OF A TEENAGER. Etienne Julie believes that this is a real historical character, whose name was d'Arcol. He led the attack on the Greve bridge leading to the town hall and was killed in action.
11 FIGURE OF A DEAD GUARDSMAN- a symbol of the ruthlessness of the revolution.
12 FIGURE OF A MURDERED CITIZEN. This is the brother of the laundress Anna-Charlotte, after whose death she went to the barricades. The fact that the corpse is stripped by marauders indicates the base passions of the crowd, which break out to the surface in times of social upheaval.
13 FIGURE OF A DYING revolutionary symbolizes the willingness of the Parisians, who took to the barricades, to give their lives for freedom.
14 TRICOLOR over Notre Dame Cathedral. The flag above the temple is another symbol of freedom. During the revolution, the bells of the temple called the Marseillaise.
Famous painting by Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the People"(known to us as "Freedom on the Barricades") long years gathering dust in the house of the artist's aunt. Occasionally, the canvas appeared at exhibitions, but the salon audience invariably perceived it with hostility - they say, it was too naturalistic. Meanwhile, the artist himself never considered himself a realist. By nature, Delacroix was a romantic who eschewed "petty and vulgar" everyday life. And only in July 1830, writes art historian Ekaterina Kozhina, "reality suddenly lost for him the repulsive shell of everyday life." What happened? Revolution! At that time, the country was ruled by the unpopular King Charles X of Bourbon, a supporter of absolute monarchy. In early July 1830, he issued two decrees: on the abolition of freedom of the press and on the granting of voting rights only to large landowners. The Parisians did not tolerate this. On July 27, barricade battles began in the French capital. Three days later, Charles X fled, and the parliamentarians proclaimed Louis Philippe the new king, who returned the popular freedoms trampled by Charles X (assemblies and unions, public expression of one's opinion and education) and promised to rule, respecting the Constitution.
Dozens of paintings dedicated to the July Revolution were painted, but the work of Delacroix, thanks to its monumentality, occupies a special place among them. Many artists then worked in the manner of classicism. Delacroix, according to the French critic Etienne Julie, "became an innovator who tried to reconcile idealism with the truth of life." According to Kozhina, “the feeling of life authenticity on Delacroix’s canvas is combined with generalization, almost symbolism: the realistic nakedness of a corpse in the foreground calmly coexists with the antiquity beauty of the goddess Liberty.” Paradoxically, even the idealized image of Liberty seemed vulgar to the French. “This is a girl,” wrote the magazine La Revue de Paris, “escaping from the prison of Saint-Lazare.” Revolutionary pathos was not in honor among the bourgeois. Later, when realism began to dominate, "Liberty Leading the People" was bought by the Louvre (1874), and the painting was put on permanent display.
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1798
- Born in Charenton-Saint-Maurice (near Paris) in the family of an official. |
ARTIST History of a masterpiece
Eugene Delacroix. "Freedom on the Barricades"
In 1831, in the Paris Salon, the French first saw the painting by Eugene Delacroix "Freedom on the Barricades", dedicated to the "three glorious days" of the July Revolution of 1830. The canvas made a stunning impression on contemporaries with the power, democracy and courage of the artistic decision. According to legend, one respectable bourgeois exclaimed:
“You say - the head of the school? Tell me better - the head of the rebellion!
After the salon closed, the government, frightened by the formidable and inspiring appeal emanating from the painting, hastened to return it to the author. During the revolution of 1848, it was again put on public display in the Luxembourg Palace. And again returned to the artist. Only after the canvas was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855, it ended up in the Louvre. It is stored here and to this day it is one of best creatures French romanticism- inspirational eyewitness testimony and eternal monument people's struggle for their freedom.
What artistic language found a young French romantic to merge together these two seemingly opposite principles - a broad, all-encompassing generalization and a concrete reality cruel in its nakedness?
Paris of the famous July days 1830. Air saturated with gray smoke and dust. A beautiful and majestic city, disappearing in a haze of powder. In the distance, hardly noticeable, but the towers of the cathedral rise proudly Notre Dame of Paris - symbol history, culture, spirit of the French people.
From there, from the smoky city, over the ruins of barricades, over the dead bodies of dead comrades, the insurgents stubbornly and resolutely come forward. Each of them can die, but the step of the rebels is unshakable - they are inspired by the will to win, to freedom.
This inspiring force is embodied in the image of a beautiful young woman, in a passionate outburst calling for her. With inexhaustible energy, free and youthful swiftness of movement, she is like Greek goddess Nick wins. Her strong figure is dressed in a chiton dress, her face with perfect features, with burning eyes, is turned to the rebels. In one hand she holds the tricolor banner of France, in the other - a gun. On the head is a Phrygian cap - an ancient symbolliberation from slavery. Her step is swift and light - this is how goddesses step. At the same time, the image of a woman is real - she is the daughter of the French people. She is the guiding force behind the movement of the group on the barricades. From it, as from a source of light and a center of energy, rays diverge, charging with thirst and the will to win. Those who are in close proximity to it, each in their own way, express their involvement in this inspiring and inspiring call.
On the right is a boy, a Parisian gamen, brandishing pistols. He is closest to Freedom and, as it were, kindled by her enthusiasm and joy of free impulse. In a swift, boyishly impatient movement, he is even a little ahead of his inspirer. This is the forerunner of the legendary Gavroche, portrayed twenty years later by Victor Hugo in Les Misérables:
“Gavroche, full of inspiration, radiant, took it upon himself to set the whole thing in motion. He scurried back and forth, rose up, fell down, rose again, made noise, sparkled with joy. It would seem that he came here in order to cheer everyone up. Did he have any motive for this? Yes, of course, his poverty. Did he have wings? Yes, of course, his cheerfulness. It was kind of a whirlwind. It seemed to fill the air with itself, being present everywhere at the same time ... Huge barricades felt it on its backbone.
Gavroche in Delacroix's painting is the personification of youth, a "beautiful impulse", a joyful acceptance of the bright idea of Freedom. Two images - Gavroche and Liberty - seem to complement each other: one is fire, the other is a torch lit from it. Heinrich Heine told what a lively response the figure of Gavroche evoked among the Parisians.
"Damn it! exclaimed a grocer. “Those boys fought like giants!”
On the left is a student with a gun. Seen in him beforeself-portrait artist. This rebel is not as swift as Gavroche. His movement is more restrained, more concentrated, meaningful. Hands confidently squeeze the barrel of the gun, the face expresses courage, firm determination to stand to the end. This is a deeply tragic image. The student is aware of the inevitability of the losses that the rebels will suffer, but the victims do not frighten him - the will to freedom is stronger. Behind him stands an equally brave and resolute worker with a saber.
Wounded at the feet of Freedom. He hardly got uphe wants to look up once again at Freedom, to see and feel with all his heart that beauty for which he is dying. This figure brings an acutely dramatic beginning to the sound of Delacroix's canvas. If the images of Liberty, Gavroche, student, worker - almost symbols, the embodiment of the unbending will of freedom fighters - inspire and call on the viewer, then the wounded man calls for compassion. Man says goodbye to Freedom, says goodbye to life. He is still an impulse, a movement, but already a fading impulse.His figure is transitional. The viewer's gaze, still fascinated and carried away by the revolutionary determination of the rebels, descends to the foot of the barricade, covered with the bodies of the glorious dead soldiers. Death is presented by the artist in all the nakedness and evidence of the fact. We see the blue faces of the dead, their naked bodies: the struggle is merciless, and death is just as inevitable a companion of the rebels as the beautiful inspirer Freedom.
But not exactly the same! From the terrible sight at the lower edge of the picture, we again raise our eyes and see a beautiful young figure - no! life wins! The idea of freedom, embodied so visibly and tangibly, is so focused on the future that death in its name is not terrible.
The picture was painted by a 32-year-old artist who was full of strength, energy, thirst to live and create. The young painter, who went through school in the workshop of Guerin, a student of the famous David, was looking for his own ways in art. Gradually, he becomes the head of a new direction - romanticism, which replaced the old one - classicism. Unlike his predecessors, who built painting on rational foundations, Delacroix strove first of all to appeal to the heart. In his opinion, painting should shake the feelings of a person, completely capture him with the passion that owns the artist. On this path, Delacroix develops his creative credo. He copies Rubens, is fond of Turner, is close to Géricault, the favorite colorist of the Frenchmasters becomes Tintoretto. The English theater that came to France captivated him with productions of Shakespeare's tragedies. Byron was one of my favorite poets. From these hobbies and attachments, the figurative world of Delacroix's paintings was formed. He turned to historical themes,stories drawn from the works of Shakespeare and Byron. His imagination was excited by the East.
But here is the phrase in the diary:
“I felt a desire to write on contemporary subjects.”
Delacroix states and more specifically:
"I want to write on the plots of the revolution."
However, the dim and sluggish reality surrounding the romantically inclined artist did not provide worthy material.
And suddenly the revolution breaks into this gray routine like a whirlwind, like a hurricane. All Paris was covered with barricades and within three days swept away the Bourbon dynasty forever. Holy Days of July! exclaimed Heinrich Heine. red was the sun, how great was the people of Paris!”
On October 5, 1830, Delacroix, an eyewitness to the revolution, wrote to his brother:
“I started painting on a modern plot -“ Barricades ”. If I did not fight for my fatherland, then at least I will make a painting in his honor.
Thus the idea arose. Initially, Delacroix conceived to depict a specific episode of the revolution, for example, "The Death of d" Arcola, a hero who fell during the capture of the town hall. But the artist very soon abandoned such a decision. He is looking for a generalizingimage , which would embody the highest meaning of what is happening. In a poem by Auguste Barbier, he findsallegory Freedom in the form of "... a strong woman with a mighty chest, with a hoarse voice, with fire in her eyes ...". But not only Barbier's poem prompted the artist to create the image of Freedom. He knew how fiercely and selflessly the French women fought on the barricades. Contemporaries recalled:
“And women, especially women from the common people - heated, excited - inspired, encouraged, hardened their brothers, husbands and children. They helped the wounded under bullets and buckshot or rushed at their enemies like lionesses.
Delacroix probably knew about the brave girl who captured one of the enemy's cannons. Then she, crowned with a laurel wreath, was carried in triumph in an armchair through the streets of Paris, to the cheers of the people. Thus, reality itself provided ready-made symbols.
Delacroix could only artistically comprehend them. After a long search, the plot of the picture finally crystallized: a majestic figure leads an unstoppable stream of people. The artist depicts only a small group of rebels, living and dead. But the defenders of the barricade seem unusually numerous.Composition is built in such a way that the group of combatants is not limited, not closed in itself. She is only part of an endless avalanche of people. The artist gives, as it were, a fragment of the group: the frame of the picture cuts off the figures from the left, right, and bottom.
Usually color in the works of Delacroix acquires an emotional sound, plays a dominant role in creating a dramatic effect. The colors, sometimes raging, sometimes fading, muffled, create a tense atmosphere. In Liberty at the Barricades, Delacroix departs from this principle. Very accurately, unmistakably choosing paint, applying it with wide strokes, the artist conveys the atmosphere of the battle.
But coloristic gamma restrained. Delacroix focuses onrelief modeling forms . This was required by the figurative solution of the picture. After all, depicting a specific yesterday's event, the artist also created a monument to this event. Therefore, the figures are almost sculptural. Therefore, eachcharacter , being part of a single whole of the picture, it also constitutes something closed in itself, it is a symbol cast into a completed form. Therefore, color not only emotionally affects the feelings of the viewer,but it also carries a symbolic meaning. In the brown-gray space, here and there, a solemn triad flashesnaturalism , and ideal beauty; rough, terrible - and sublime, pure. No wonder many critics, even those who were friendly towards Delacroix, were shocked by the novelty and boldness of the picture, unthinkable for that time. And it was not without reason that later the French called it "La Marseillaise" inpainting .Being one of the best creations and creations of French romanticism, Delacroix's painting remains unique in its own way artistic content. “Freedom on the Barricades” is the only work in which romanticism, with its eternal craving for the majestic and heroic, with its distrust of reality, turned to this reality, was inspired by it and found in it the highest artistic meaning. But, responding to the call of a specific event that suddenly changed the usual course of life for an entire generation, Delacroix goes beyond it. In the process of working on a picture, he gives free rein to his imagination, sweeps aside everything concrete, transient, individual that reality can give, and transforms it with creative energy.
This canvas brings to us the hot breath of the July days of 1830, the rapid revolutionary rise of the French nation, and is the perfect artistic embodiment of the wonderful idea of the struggle of the people for their freedom.
E. Varlamova
Eugene Delacroix Liberty Leading the People, 1830 La Liberté guidant le peuple Oil on canvas. 260 × 325 cm Louvre, Paris "Liberty leading the people" (fr ... Wikipedia
Basic concepts Free will Positive freedom Negative freedom Human rights Violence ... Wikipedia
Eugene Delacroix Liberty Leading the People, 1830 La Liberté guidant le peuple Oil on canvas. 260 × 325 cm Louvre, Paris "Liberty leading the people" (fr ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see People (meanings). The people (also the common people, the mob, the masses) are the main unprivileged mass of the population (both working and declassed and marginalized). They do not belong to the people ... ... Wikipedia
Freedom Basic concepts Free will Positive freedom Negative freedom Human rights Violence ... Wikipedia
Liberty leading the people, Eugene Delacroix, 1830, Louvre The July Revolution of 1830 (fr. La révolution de Juillet) an uprising on July 27 against the current monarchy in France, which led to the final overthrow of the senior line of the Bourbon dynasty (?) and ... ... Wikipedia
Liberty leading the people, Eugene Delacroix, 1830, Louvre The July Revolution of 1830 (fr. La révolution de Juillet) an uprising on July 27 against the current monarchy in France, which led to the final overthrow of the senior line of the Bourbon dynasty (?) and ... ... Wikipedia
One of the main genres of fine art, dedicated to historical events and figures, socially significant phenomena in the history of society. Addressed mainly to the past, I. f. also includes images of recent events, ... ... Big soviet encyclopedia
Books
- Delacroix, . The album of color and tone reproductions is dedicated to the work of the outstanding French artist XIX century Eugene Delicroix, who led the romantic trend in fine arts. In album…
