Visual Arts
Marianne and the Fourth of July
She is called “Marianne,” and Eugene Delacroix painted this scene in celebration of the July Revolution of 1830. Marianne wears a Phrygian Cap and has become a powerful symbol, the world over, for her representation of France’s Liberté, egalité et fraternité.
On this Fourth of July, the beliefs that have centered the free world, however imperfectly, on individual liberty and the rule of law are under enormous stress.
Who can doubt that it will be a woman, or many women, who will ultimately steer the world away from creeping, repressive authoritarianism and toward an ever more modern, generous enlightenment. One can imagine Nadia Murad or Kaja Kallas.