In what ways is ‘Napoleon Leading His Army Over The Alps’ a challenge of traditional canonical representations of power?

Kehinde Wiley’s ‘Napoleon Leading His Army Over The Alps’ clearly resembles ‘Napoleon Crossing the Alps’ which was painted by Jacques-Louis David. This leads the audience to think that the modernised and heavily altered version by Wiley confronts history through key differences in artistic elements. Wiley attempts to reveal issues about power and privilege portrayed in Western portraiture.

Wiley significantly alters historical elements and iconography in order to present black culture and lives of black men in modern-day. One noticeable change is the change in the background from a war to a luxurious, red and gold pattern which not only modernizes the piece but also creates an impression that the painting is based off something artificial. A contrasting colour, red, is used in comparison to the darker palette in the original painting which suggests that Wiley aims to portray the vibrance and loudness of black culture. Furthermore, when the background is magnified, there are sperm visible, placed randomly across the painting. Through this, Wiley could be mocking the potency of masculation present in Western portraiture. The background overlaps onto the ground which reflects the literal integration of black culture with components of the original. We can further see a difference in the character and their clothing. In the original Napoleon wears formal clothing, suitable for war but Wiley intentionally portrays hip hop culture through the use of timberland boots, a bandana and camouflage clothing. This creates militaristic connections with the original painting and with the violence present in America, experienced by young black men. The use of a gold cape in comparison to the red cape is further representative of black culture as it further portrays the liveliness and vibrance of the black community.

There are, however, many similarities that allow Wiley to retain the essence of the original painting. Firstly, the composition is similar since both Napoleon and the black man take up the majority of the space and touch almost all the squares of the rule of thirds. Through this Wiley portrays the dominance that a black man can have compared to a white man and that black men are capable of the same. They can hold as much if not more power. Another similarity is the rocky surface that the horse stands on. However, there is a difference in the names used as Wiley decides to include “WILLIAMS”, which is a common African-American surname for example, which is another example where Wiley attempts and persists to include black culture and people of colour.