Political art

  • The Third of May 1808

    Most war paintings celebrate victory — but The Third of May 1808 does something far more radical: it forces you to stand with the condemned, staring down the barrels of anonymous rifles, and feel the full, brutal weight of state violence. Painted six years after the events it depicts, this work by Francisco Goya became…

  • Liberty Leading the People

    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…