At the Louvre, you’ll see Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” in a different light

Dimitar Delkov/AFP via Getty Images

A restorer is working to restore “Liberty Leads the People” in February 2024.

Art – After more than six months of restoration, the public at the Louvre Museum, starting Thursday, May 2, will discover the true colors of the world icon of painting: Freedom leads the people by Delacroix, which were by now yellowed from decades of layers of varnish and dirt. “We are the first generation to rediscover Delacroix color.”Sébastien Allard, Director of the Paintings Department at the Louvre Museum, rejoices.

The painting, which cannot be admired outside the Louvre, except in its branch in Lens, in the north, and in Japan in 1999, represents a symbol of freedom: a topless woman waving a blue, white and red ribbon on a barrier in the museum. Among the rebels, in the heart of Paris, made by Eugène Delacroix in 1830.

“Until now, we have lost the richness of the color intensity, the levels, the whites, the shadows, all that was so uniform under these yellow layers.”This is confirmed by the director who noticed the transformation of the painting in one of the museum’s rooms, which was turned into a restoration workshop.

Because over time eight layers of varnish were applied to the painting to enhance the colors before sinking them into a dull yellow mass, “Dirt and dust” They were also imprisoned, he said. The last major restoration dates back to 1949. This was carried out as part of a campaign launched in 2019 for large 19th-century figures.

“inspiration”

It is a “inspiration”Sébastien Allard says: The grays, blacks, browns and whites light up the painting again, white smoke emerges from the weapons and dust rises above the barricades, and the blue sky rises above the towers of Notre Dame in the background like every detail of a story full of violence and glorification. “It is magical to see pictorial material in very good condition appearing under the varnish with vibrant touches, we have the impression that we are in the heart of creativity.”Bénédicte Tremoulier, one of two restaurateurs chosen for the mission, told AFP.

“Everywhere Delacroix concealed little touches of blue, white and red dotted in such a subtle way as if they echoed the science and which were no longer perceptible at all.”His colleague Laurence Mougnot adds: “Blue pupil with a touch of red” Of character or “Swiss guard uniform”.

Like other large formats, the huge canvas (2.60 meters high and 3.25 meters wide without the frame) could not be transported to the workshop of the Center for Research and Restoration Museums of France (C2RMF). To evaluate the extent of work, specialists relied on it “Archive and old photos” And made “Precise fabric analysis, passing through infrared, X-ray and ultraviolet rays.”tells AFP Com Fabre, curator of the paintings department at the Louvre Museum, responsible for the nineteenth century.

After Delacroix

Then the restorers ran out “the exams” On small parts of the plate. Equipped with magnifiers and microscopes. “In particular, they discovered that some alterations, including the brown mark on Liberty’s dress, had been added after Delacroix and could therefore be removed.”reveal.

The painting arrived at the Louvre in 1874. It has always been the property of the state, which purchased it during its first public exhibition in 1831. If it represents the July Revolution of 1830, it has been given several meanings: “The Revolution, Marianne, the French Republic, and France in general, reproduced posters on a large scale, at the time of the liberation of Paris in 1944, and on banknotes or stamps.”He explains.

In 2019, artist Pascal Boyart, who is signed to PBOY, created a mural in eastern Paris titled Freedom leads the yellow vests. because “Delacroix’s wonderful idea, According to Com FaberTo have succeeded in representing the moving, unstoppable collective action, with men united around women, who embody the idea of ​​freedom.”.

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