It is Bastille Day - it is the day when they turn on the fountains at Versaille. Ironically, the day celebrates the storming of a state prison and is federal holiday in France. (It is also my mother’s 71st birthday - Happy Birthday Mom!) It makes me wander towards another painting that I have had the privileged of viewing in-person - Eugene Delacroix’s 1830 Liberty Leading the People. I might mention the connection to the painting and the Statue of Liberty is not happenstance, the painting directly inspired Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty. It is a massive painting of Liberty leading the July Revolution of 1830 and hangs in the the Musee du Louvre, among of some of Delacroix’s masterpieces. It is an emotional and cinematic picture that comes alive when you are standing in front of it. You can almost smell the stench of the dead bodies in front of you, as the character grasp for victory at the same time, exposing herself. I have been thinking about what liberty means in our current context a lot - what kind of revolution might we need to meet the moment? Last summer, I was in the streets of San Francisco with Black Lives Matter protests, and this summer, I am in Lawrence, Kansas waiting for a fan-less Olympics. How much can happen in a year? Oh, moments so dear. Step by step, we regress, or move forward? Where do you see lady liberty in your daily life? 

It took a while for this painting to enter the American psyche waiting to emerge from the rubble with the release of Coldplay’s 2008 album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Coldplay, a British band, used the 1830 French painting as an album cover, when album covers still mattered? It makes me glad vinyl is making a comeback, if not just for the album designs. The 1970 original Broadway cast of Jesus Christ Superstar is seared into my design memory. It is almost a perfect design -  the serif typeface and strong contrast makes for a balanced, yet striking cover.  

Lady Liberty or as the French say “Marianne” even graces the back of my iPhone case. (Liberty for the french is personified in a female form and she has a name, Marianne). The Louvre is desperately trying to make back their massive financial loss from the pandemic with corporate partnerships with brands like Uniqlo and Casetify. Limited Edition and out of stock now because of “High Demand.” Marianne is pervasive in French culture and will even become the torch of liberty again when Paris hosts the next Summer Olympic Games in 2024. Now, you won’t feel so out of the loop wondering you are actually supposed to see a face in flame, too? Yes, that is face of freedom, with pursed lips, just if you don’t smoke weed or protest.

(Rules are rules, right?) 

Is the main character looking towards the past and honoring the sacrifice of those that came before? Or is she leading us to the future unknown freedom that we have yet to experience? In a way, I feel trapped as viewer in Delacroix’s distallation of what is a complex and layered history of empire building. I feel trapped by the perfect flag as symbol of nationalism, trapped by the violence that seems necessary to bring us to an unknown future, and trapped underneath the weight of the responsibilty for the cost of freedom. These pictures don’t start as icons, they began as ideas or more specifically, ideas serving political aspirations. Now the image protects my digital device. We might think this painting is far away from our own human experience. How much in common do we have with those painted in a 19th century masterpiece of grand scale? How many Americans have seen dead bodies from mass shootings at schools, movie theaters, and grocery stores in the past decade? And how many American soldiers are pondering if our twenty year war (the longest American war in our history) in Afghanistan accomplished anything? Where is our lady liberty raising the white flag of surrender to hate and division? Marianne? Anyone?

The white color, or absence of color, in the French flag is rooted in the Bourbon monarchy. In the American flag white is to mean purity and innocence. In design, “white space” is a tool to allow statements to be made, allow elements to literally hold space digitally or in print. Delacroix gives us no white space. Even the white smoke is encroaching lady liberty, not a halo, but a warning. Romanticism leaves no pause for reflection, it is only meant to move you and tell you to feel something. Every inch of the canvas is crawling with meaning. Each character representing different social classes. It is most difficult for me to see the French flag in this picture and not think of Kielslowski’s triology: Rouge, Bleu, and Blanc. Blanc (White), in my opinion, is the most underrated film in the trilogy. As a film, the narrative is suffocating in its revenge. The film is not a silent narrative, it is full, like this painting. Maybe Delacroix is seeking revenge somehow? Liberty and revenge seem to be closely tied. Closer than we might be comfortable admitting. 

When I saw this painting in Paris for the first time, I was overwhelmed at its size. I might even be a bit exhausted by it. It is grand. It is a grand idea, liberty. When a painting is this big, I seem to gravitate to finding the artist’s signature. I have to find something to root my experience, a starting place for my eye. Think of it as my own museum version of Where’s Waldo? The mark connects me to the artist immediately, I look at their name and see the artist taking ownership of the picture they created. The signatures are always interesting, if you can find them. Delacroix places his name right above a dead soldier of the resistance, on the wood of the barricade. In a letter to his brother dated October 21, 1830 Delacroix wrote: "My bad mood is vanishing thanks to hard work. I've embarked on a modern subject—a barricade. And if I haven't fought for my country at least I'll paint for her." Finding his signature brings me a bit of peace amid the chaos, death, and confusion. Is that all we have at the end of the day, to live the question, to have our name and question liberty itself? 

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