Let Them Eat Cake!

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or “Let them eat cake!” was a famous line attributed to Marie Antoinette, The Queen of France during the French Revolution. But both lines were never really spoken by Marie Antoinette. In fact, this saying pre-dated her arrival in France.

The actual saying was first written by the political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his autobiography “Confessions.” At the time, Marie Antoinette was only ten years old and was living in Austria. And she didn’t come to France until four years later when she married Louis XVI. An Austrian, a woman in power, and one of the top members of the French aristocracy at a time when any of these three weren’t looked upon highly by the public. This made her the visible target for all the rage of the people against their negligent rulers.

You can see from this photograph that a coherent message is being sent to the viewer. This infamous line represents just how blinded the people from the upper class are to the realities of the families who are trying to survive their day-to-day lives. It is both a call for help and a plea for change. Often, we are not willing to change the world we live in because it suits us well. But when we consider the conditions of those around us, we can see that so much improvement in the system is still lacking. And as you hang this image in your home interior, let it remind you that we should all feel comfortable in the lives we live.

Photo taken in Miami, early 1980's.