♫ You say you want a revolution... ♫
Recent events have a lot of people talking about revolution. So I thought it might be a good time to talk about one of the most celebrated images of revolution in the western world: Eugene Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People.
In this round of Artwork Explained, we'll learn about the historical context for the creation of Delacroix's iconic painting, the identity of the figures included in the work, and the ways that its contents continue to resonate around the world through to today.
As always, a note before we start: the primary venue for this content is the stories feature on my Instagram page. All of the virtual visits will be saved in my story highlights. The purpose of the blog posts is to allow a greater audience (especially those without social media accounts) to benefit from the same content.
With that in mind, let's talk about revolution!
(You can find that post here.)
Et voilà! A look at artistic representations of revolution, past and present. Delacroix's July 28: Liberty Leading the People demonstrates particularly well how works of art are products of the specific cultural, political, and historical moment of their creation, but can also evolve to stand for something much bigger and more universal.