II.6. THE GODS' MODERNITY

MENU: 2.6. The gods' modernity

GODDESSES, SYMBOLS STILL

Iconic works and deities

that monuments and parvenus still copy.

We've already started these visits with a suggestion for families: For that introduction and for finding the iconic works in the huge museum, please click here.

 

• The first great work of defiance

• A goddess becomes a plebeian revolutionary

• The goddess's descendants

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 Next,

The first great work of defiance

THE FIRST GREAT WORK OF DEFIANCE

 

"THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA" ADAPTS NOBLES' USE OF MYTHOLOGY TO GIVE HUMBLE SAILORS THE BODIES OF GODS

By Théodore Géricault in 1818-1819. He was 27. 

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Sailors on a raft in the high seas glimpse the ship that will save them:

 Zoom

• The very dark man highlights the hero's mixed blood to make him a symbol of all humanity (as the artist said explicitly):

• Mankind on high seas is a symbol of human fragility, the outstretched hand recalls Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam and the light on the horizon means hope.

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The true story

• The king appoints as ship captain a man who has never been to sea, because he is a noble (in 1815).

• When he wrecks the ship off Mauritanian reefs he has sailors build a raft and climb onto it, promising that officers in a lifeboat will pull them to shore. Then he has someone cut the rope:

Abandon of the Raft of the Médusa, 1837 / zoom

• After 13 days at sea, only 15 of the original 150 are still alive. They have survived by eating the dead:

      Sketch / zoom

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Besides hijacking the nobles' code, the painting...

• Attacks the king for giving a position of such responsibility to an inept and cruel crony.

• Presents a Black who is not a subordinate for the first time since the 16th century, at the height of the slave trade.

• Inaugurates Romantic art, which was often rebellious.

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Until then, huge paintings had portrayed elites only. Raft is the first to honor ordinary men with a canvas of such size.  

Placing it next to a giant work of propaganda emphasizes its dissent:

Napoleon at Eylau by Jean Gros, 1807-1808 / zoom

  

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Raft remains the second most famous work made in France: 

Performance announcement in a café of the 13th.  

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Fifty years later another rebel will say,

"We are all on the raft of the Medusa...

When humanity has turned all its forces
 against the obstacles that hold it back, 
it will ride through the storm."

 -- Louise Michel: later.

For a work that is even more iconic, 

please read on. 

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Next,
 A goddess becomes a plebeian revolutionary

A GODDESS BECOMES A PLEBEIAN REVOLUTIONARY

"LIBERTY GUIDES THE PEOPLE," THE MOST ICONIC WORK MADE IN FRANCE  

 By Eugène Delacroix, 1830-1831 / photo Julien Debure

• Her clothes torn off and her breasts bare, the goddess wears the red cap of freed slaves of Antiquity and leads the fight for freedom:

Zoom

• Her scandalous underarm makes her real and since almost all the fighting was done by the humble, she has to be underclass:

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The painting honors the Revolution of 1830, but its symbolism is universal. The goddess...

• Illustrates French history and Parisian insurrections...

French history summarized at Blois château

  

        

 

•  Recalls a tragedy...

The terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo journal (on January 15, 2025)

On rue des Vimoutiers, 13th / zoom

• Mobilizes...

"Stop the degradation of our environment and protect our planet"

•  Inspires merch...

• Is part of daily life...

• And is known world-wide:

Part of the introductory ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games

    In Bethlehem

 

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The Mayor of Paris's 13th district 

used an adaptation for his New Year's greetings...

"Jérôme Coumet, Mayor of the 13th and the municipal team, present their best wishes for 2025."

Taken taken from that which adorns

 his City Hall's great stairs:

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Next,
The goddess's descendants

THE GODDESS'S DESCENDANTS

 

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION'S NEWLY RICH COPY THE

NOBLES' CODE

 

Politically and economically victorious but socially insecure, they model their culture on that of their defeated but prestigious adversaries. Parvenus still do...

    Scarface by Brian de Palma with Al Pacino (1987) / movie website                       Trump Tower salon / zoom

The adaptation also adds...

• Gravitas to monuments.

Zoom

Paris's place de la République, 1883

 New York Bay, Statue of Liberty web site

The Statue of Liberty, 1889

• Dignity and elegance to daily life.

Corner of rue Saint-Denis and rue de Turbigo, 2nd

Avenue des Gobelins, 13th

Across the street

When  you see sculptures of gods or goddesses

on Parisian buildings,*

know that that part of the city was torn down

 because home to working-class rebels

or burned during La Commune.

* Other than one of the Louvre courtyards or the Opéra.

End of this section.

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Next section,

II.7.

When observation and the usual story clash:

What Opéra tours won't say