Gallery Talk: Gray Area—The Third Estate and the French Revolution

Join curator Elizabeth Rudy on Tuesday, Sept. 17 for a discussion of the life and career of French statesman Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748–1836), portrayed in an 1817 oil painting by Jacques-Louis David. Sieyès’s provocative 1789 essay “What Is the Third Estate?” galvanized public support for democracy, just before the onset of the French Revolution. By the later stage of the revolution, Sieyès became disenchanted by the movement’s violence cause, and he eventually helped Napoleon seize power as emperor.

This talk is part of Gray Area, a new series that features members of Harvard Art Museums' curatorial staff exploring artworks that capture the complexities of humanity, political landscapes, ethics, ideologies, power dynamics, and critical thinking. Through this series, the museums hope to encourage people to observe and consider their own individual gray areas, and to think about how their unique experiences guide the choices they make. In the lead-up to the U.S. national election in November, all are invited to journey through the intersection of decision making, art, and civic engagement.