Delacroix ‘iconic painting “La liberté guidant le peuple” was removed from the Louvre Museum to undergo restoration until spring 2024.
One of the most famous images in the world
This allegory painted by Delacroix is also one of the most famous images in the world. Its much-awaited restoration will restore all its beauty, declared the president and director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, in a press release. This remarkable painting, which depicts a topless woman carrying the French tricolor flag, standing on top of a barricade, surrounded by insurgents, is the fruit of the genius of Delacroix (1798-1863) A work inspired by the Three Glorious Revolution in France in 1830, this large-format oil on canvas (3.25 m by 2.60 m) is usually exhibited in one of the large red rooms of the Louvre alongside La Prize de Constantinople by the Crusaders and The Death of Sardanapalus, Delacroix’s two greatest paintings.
The eternal symbol of the French Republic
This painting has become the eternal symbol of the French Republic, the global icon of revolutions and the emancipation of peoples. The painting will be temporarily replaced by the painting which was located just opposite, Les Femmes souliotes by Ary Scheffer (1827). Since 2015, more than 200 restorations, some of which are large-scale, have been carried out by the Louvre museum from La Belle Ferronnière by Leonardo da Vinci (2015) to La Mère infortunée by Constance Mayer-Lamartinière (2022). The Women of Algiers (2022) and Scenes from the Massacres of Scio (2020) by Eugène Delacroix, as well as The Venus of Pardo by Titian (2016) and The Inspiration of the Poet by Nicolas Poussin (2019) have also been restored. Launched in 2019, the ambitious campaign to restore large formats of the 19th century (which currently concerns paintings by Delacroix) is now dedicated to an icon of the museum and of French painting, which should return in time for the Games Olympics, with a rehang planned for spring 2024. During the upcoming restoration period, experts will work with scientific precision to preserve the integrity of the work while restoring it to its original splendor.
