How to read a piece of art

elektro80 · Last edited by elektro80 on Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:39 am; edited 1 time in total

OK, so we have been discussing counterpoint and whatnot. I am suggesting we make an analysis of a fairly well known painting by Eugene Delacroix.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

This is the best image I could find here right now, but I am sure better images of it can be found on the web.

Why is this painting of interest anyway?

Well, first of all it is actually two paintings. When it was first exhibited people found it outragous. It was quite different from what other painters managed
deliver. At the time it had a completed different vision. Much later it became iconic and the public perception of the content was suddenly quite different.

Delacroix was a romantic and very much a part of the romantic movement. It might be interesting to look up what that stuff was all about. Delacroix also read books. A lot of them too, and this painting clearly has the attitude of an artist who knows it is possible to say something using dreamlike visions.

The female figure. Pay attention to her. At the time there was a discussion about the possibiity of creating such a figure as a symbol for France. Should she have clothes, little clothes, how should the nose look like.. and should she hold a little child or something? Delacroix did the unthinkable and put a reasonably iconic hellenic head on top of a full fermale body .. and do pay attention to the armpits. A critic described this figure as " a women from the fishmarket" and clearly that is not the right stuff.

And is this really what happened on July 28 1830?

The painting is full of clues. There is little in here that does not contan some kind of content or story.

Anyone?

It is allowed to use online resources but keep in mind that there are some horrible and mindless pages on this painting out here.

seraph · And is this really what happened on July 28 1830?

seraph · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:41 am Post subject:

anyway...the name of that painting is "Liberty Leading the People"
it looks like Iraq nowadays Shocked

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:42 am Post subject:

You can do better than that, I am sure.

Why not try to look into what Delacroix actually painted?

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:02 am Post subject:

Criminality (profile head - similar to coins) opposes the full body of the country bursting forth - a hallucination from a smoke screen.

Must be revolution, guns, satanic ritual, female menstruatian, stages of man, distraction techniques. Symbols of a march across the fields of the dead. Typical characters of society - rugged man, top hat man, dog boy, patriotism/revolution/royalty woman [distraction], enthusiastic schoolboy all guns ablaze - all reach forth to distract the viewer from the banality of his/her existence as a slave to their own needs and the desires of the 'country', represented by buildings/establishment - far right.

Have no idea what the armpits are about though..

seraph · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:04 am Post subject:

mosc · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:04 am Post subject:

I can see there is a lot of irony in this picture. The top have is a painting of determined people marching on to some great victory. The are marching over the bodies of other people whose lives were lost in the cause.

I can see why Carlo would say it is reminiscent of modern Iraq. Liberty in this painting could be the American Statue of Liberty (a gift of France BTW). The marching army are the British and Americans on a crusade to make the world safe for democracy. An the dead and dying on the floor of the painting being the people of Iraq and the British and American soldiers.

The little boy on the right with the hat on and the two pistols is reminiscent of that famous picture from the US Revolutionary War which has the fife and drum with a flag bearer - only here the drumsticks are pistols.

mosc · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:07 am Post subject:

Do I see sampling here? A very small section of the sky on the upper right side looks a lot like a small part of the Mona Lisa. Shocked

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:14 am Post subject:

Not bad.
Howard and doobah.. you are doing well

You still have to do more research I guess. Very Happy

Clues:
Eugene himself is there somewhere.
The woman is smudgy, dirty, has blood stains on her.
The colours of the tricolor can be found.. where?
What is this thing about the dead soldiers?
The rebels are wearing clothes and effects taken from the dead soldiers.
Why is the woman in the picture and is she really there at all?

Carlo! You are not supposed to sniff those armpits. OK?

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:19 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:21 am Post subject:

15 secs in Photoshop.. well.. anyway..

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

This is a completely different picture.

seraph · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:22 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:27 am Post subject:

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:27 am Post subject:

tricolore - shown in sky and dog-boy. Blue = death (drug addiction, ignorance), red = loss (e.g blood spunk menstruation, money famine, or the fight against these in search of freedom) white = purity , truth, femininity, creation?????????

Dog-boy is very dead and shows a dirty purity.

Central figure has control of city (masses, capitalism) and is shown looking for the control of animalistic side of humanity (freedom, rebellion etc)

all guesses

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:30 am Post subject:

God is leading the men to leisure, where they shall be castrated by thier own follishness.

hehehe

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:32 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:33 am Post subject:

But.. still consider this image:

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:38 am Post subject:

what are you getting at? ( as far as I can see, it's a hallucinatory and dramatic depiction of the march/war/dance of life, perhaps the soldiers are demonstrating the stages of man ) what is the meaning?

schizophrenic psychosis?

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:44 am Post subject:

Hmm..
I am trying to figure out together with you guys what Delacroix is telling us.

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:46 am Post subject:

use of distraction - so... what are you getting at?

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:52 am Post subject:

dead = masses/third world/ignorance/slavery/addiction/malaise

dying = those in the process of becoming dead - heading blindly through school/youth only to be shot with the conditions of life (hunger=money, society = lies and jealousy e.g. politeness. Bullet is the brainwashing.

Soldiers are free, pirates or gods or lovers or families surfing upon the waves of the dead and dying.

opg · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:53 am Post subject:

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:54 am Post subject:

I was hoping we could do this together.

Kassen?
Dr. Justice?

uh.. and are there ant art historians here? ( Actually, I know there are at least 4 art historians here. )

Doobah · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:55 am Post subject:

The moral of the story is, don't go to the toilet, don't smoke cigarettes and if you go to the pub, remember not to get pregnant afterwards.

Otherwise life gets you with a job, mortgage, polite socialism, mistruths, destractions, though ultimately the inability to free oneself from a cycle of either hunger or desire.

elektro80 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:57 am Post subject: