THE PIECE OF ART

La liberté guide le peuple - Delacroix

The piece of art I've chosen is called "La liberté guide le peuple" painted by Delacroix in 1830.

First, let me start describing this picture; in the middle of it we can see a woman dressed in a yellow tom dress, which lets us see her breasts. If you don't care I' Il start softly with a little interpretation, this breast is, in fact, standing for the mother relationship that this woman has with France. She is hanging both a shotgun in her left hand and the French flag in the other. On her left, which is on the left of the picture, there are a lot of people visible up to the foreground, they are the poor people from Paris' streets led by this woman who not only seems to be their leader, but also a symbol of freedom who is worth being defended. She is defended from a rich man who has just got ready to shoot her down by one of the poor who'll kill him before he gets time to shoot her down. She is walking next to a boy, epitomizing the just taken freedom, who stands a gun up in order to show his victory, on top of dead bodies, which are both those of guards and revolted people. In the very foreground we can see the towers of "Notre Dame de Paris" which leads us on the right track as to think that we are in this wonderful city.

Then, let me say what all that means with more precision than in the beginning of my text. The woman, called Marianne, stands for freedom, equality, fraternity, which is the French motto. In other words, this woman has been the symbol of France since the French Revolution, it was the first time people had been able to say that everyone was one and the same without the differences of social class. Marianne isn't partly undressed just to make the picture mo

interesting, but it has a strong meaning, if we can see her breasts, it is in order to make us understand that she is as a mother for France; not only does she take care of the French but she also controls, leads them. This battle against tyranny is what French are the most proud of. Even if a lot of people died in this fight, it isn 't a failed one, insofar as the future will be better, and this idea is shown by the boy standing near Marianne.

I've chosen this picture in as much as in each Town Hall you can see statue of Marianne, insofar as every French inhabitant knows her and because w- are all proud of the message she stands for.

by Didier