Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix

In the painting entitled Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix, images are related to the human world as well as the natural world. On the top of the painting there is a lady with the open breast and she has a gun on her left hand but on her right hand there is a flag with three colors: red, white and black.

There are some dead bodies lying in the front part of the painting while there is complete darkness on the right side of the painting. In the darkness there are so many people celebrating victory holding their weapons. The background of the painting is very gloomy because there is a lot of dust everywhere. There are also some buildings very close to the dust.

The theme of the painting is very clear which is related to destruction and death that is the result of the war or the revolution. It seems that the painting reflects the realism related to war. Delacroix is a French painter who might have given the picture of French revolution and the destruction that was invited by the revolution. We can also say that the painting reflects the universal reality that war invites evil in the human world.

The lady on the top seems to be the liberty leading lady. The darkness in the painting not only symbolizes their ignorance but also the cruelty. The dead bodies seem to be without weapons and their dressing is also rough which suggests that they are the innocent people, the non participants but victimized in the war which is the bitter reality of war. The background dust symbolically suggests the recent blasting and the buildings symbolize the ruin of the recently destroyed physical world. The recent revolution and the victory of the war is even suggested by the color symbolism in the flag. The red color of the flag symbolizes such recent revolution and bloodshed led by the lady, the white color in the flag symbolizes the happiness after the victory but the black color in the flag symbolizes uncertainty of future. The open breast of the lady not only symbolizes the feminine source of human life but also it is the symbol of frenzies that she experienced after the revolution. There are also some contrasts in the painting: the contrast between weaponless people and weapon people, the contrast between dead and alive along with the contrast between happiness and uncertainty.