Thursday, August 1, 2013

Larry Rivers’ Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose


Altidor, Samuel
Professor D. Lemeh
ARH2000
31 March 2013
Blog Entry 9
Larry Rivers’ Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose

            From out trip to the Boca Art Museum last week, Larry Rivers’ “Delacroix 1830: Chaos and Purpose” really caught my attention. This painting is oil on canvas painting mounted on foam board; which gives the artwork a tridimensional look. It depicts a chaotic scene from what I believe is the French Revolution war. At the center of it all is none other than a woman with her breasts uncovered uncovered holding the French flag. The fact that her skin tone is lighter than pretty much everything in the frame leads the viewers’ eyes directly to her. When I saw her the first thing I asked myself was: “what is a half naked woman doing in such a barbaric and chaotic scene?” She seemed so out of place in there. According to the docent however, the half dressed lady represent liberty, and is leading the people. In the painting the working group was represented by the poorly dressed gentleman brandishing a saber in the mid-left of the frame. The well-dressed gentleman in the top hat carrying a rifle represents the French “bourgeoisie”. The little boy on the left hand side of “lady liberty” represents the students…
            One of the reasons I loved the painting is because it brought back memories of going through school in Haiti. I grew up studying French literature and history. And the painting reminds me of one of the illustrations in my history books. Sometimes I could swear it’s the same exact image.

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