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Liberty Leading the People
Eugène Delacroix
A political icon of monumental scale, and a canvas the Louvre now moves only for major restoration.
- Artist
- Eugène Delacroix
- Date
- 1830
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 260 × 325 cm
- Location
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
History
What the record shows
Painted in the months after the July Revolution and bought by the state, then hidden for years as too inflammatory to display.
A 2024 cleaning removed a yellowed varnish and revealed far cooler colour than generations had seen.
Provenance
Chain of ownership
- 01Purchased by the French State, 1831
- 02Musée du Luxembourg, then returned to the artist, 1839
- 03Musée du Louvre from 1874
