Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) was the leader of French Romanticism, celebrated for vibrant colour and dramatic, emotionally charged scenes. His Liberty Leading the People remains one of the most powerful political images in art history.

  • Liberty Leading the People

    ByDominik Szobak

    Most people assume Liberty Leading the People depicts the French Revolution of 1789 — but it doesn’t. Eugène Delacroix painted this electrifying masterpiece in 1830, just weeks after a different uprising shook Paris and toppled King Charles X from his throne. That single misconception tells you everything about how powerfully this image has burned itself…