Detailed Information on Publication Record

The interpretations of historians and art historians differed methodologically and terminologically in the question of Napoleon's representation via art both in space and in time. The usual "black-and-white" view of Napoleon's imperial style degraded this artistic style, especially by the tendencious Marxist historiography, to a mere means of political propaganda by the Napoleonic regime. Such a concept completely denied the nature of the specific art that developed in France as one of the consequences of Napoleon's cultural policy. Art? Propaganda? How do these two instances relate to each other in the case of Napoleon's art representation? To what extent can art serve as a tool of propaganda? This question is complicated to the same extent by the divergence of experts. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the significance of the Empire style and return it to its artistic license which was denied to him mainly in the countries of the Eastern Bloc bound by the ideologies of Marxism and Communism. The bicentennial of Napoleon's death, commemorated by memory institutions through the concept of places of memory and cultural heritage in the interests of interdisciplinary and international cooperation, contributes to the construction of a pillar that could support the legitimacy of this license.