The French Revolution and art.

They had their revolution in France some years after ours in 1642. Nevertheless when they did it was a very bloody and traumatic social event. Art in the French Revolution of 1789 and what it stood for was part of the iconoclasm that swept through Paris in that summer. Until then art had been almost exclusively for the social elite - the monarchy, church and aristocracy. On the approach road to Paris from Versailles there was a special 'toll gate' that you were obliged to pay if you wished to enter the city. The angry mob with stone masons went to the statue of the king that stood next to the gate and 'decapitated it'. This one act was a symbolic statement as their attitude to the status quo. Things would never be the same again. The monarchy was then despotic and believed it was gods earthly representative and thereof had absolute power. There was then the establishment of the Paris Commune that acted as a parliament of the people for the people by the people. However under the stewardship of Robespierre (1758-1794) the 'reign of terror' ensued with an estimated 40,000 put to death, many by the guillotine. The French Revolution ushered in the reign of Napoleon and more 'blood and iron'. The social use of art today is more democratic and their is a group of young people in Paris who have named themselves "So What"? Some have referred to them as vandals, but their graffiti on many building across Paris is testament to their belief that art is for all, not the elite of Paris and its exclusive salons. See all this in an excellent programme on BBC Four The French Revolution: Tearing up History introduced by Dr Richard Clay.