Picture Assignment

This picture is Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacriox. It is his most favorite painting due to its importance in the 1830 French Revolution. It was a working class revolt in France that overthrew King Charles X of France. This picture didn't actually happen, it is a symbolic representation of the Revolution. Liberty in this picture is the woman who is leading the common man. The men behind her with the guns are the working class people who made up the revolt. 
The people in the picture feel victorious and free. After oppression by the King, they are falling back upon the French tradition of revolution to solve their problems. Liberty is symbolically unbound in the picture by the lack of a shirt, just as she is unrestrained by the King. 
In the background of the picture (to the right hand side) Paris burns. Paris is traditionally the most important city in France; what happens in Paris affects all of France. The ruined state of Paris reflects the ruin of all of France after the revolution. Although Paris didn't actually burn in the revolution, the fire represents the ideals shared by the revolutionists.