Honoré Daumier was born in Marseilles into the family of a glazier, who was fond of poetry and even wrote his own verses. In 1814, the family moved to Paris. Daumier started to study art in 1822 under the renowned artist and archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir. The financial situation forced Daumier to earn his living as a delivery boy, while at his spare time he sketched at the Louvre. About 1828, he learned the technique of lithography and began to work for small publishing houses. After the revolution of 1830 in the atmosphere of freedom of speech in France the role of mass media grew and the art of political satire flourished. In 1830, Daumier started to work for Philipon’s “Caricature” and “Le Charivari.”
A caricaturist famous for his scathing social commentary, Daumier earned his reputation primarily as a draughtsman. It was not until a posthumous exhibition held in Paris in 1878 that his paintings gained wide recognition. While Daumier’s political cartoons are often pointed—savagely precise in their references and implications—many of his paintings rely on ambiguity and nuance. This unfinished composition has been variously identified as a dramatic scene of escape and a mundane illustration of a house painter at work. With its bold, graphic style and equivocal subject, this painting is among the most shockingly modern pictures produced in the mid-nineteenth century.
For more biographical notes see part 1, and for earlier works, see parts 1 - 8 also.
This is part 9 of a major 23-part series on the works of Honoré Daumier:
1852 Tout Ce Qu'on Voudra (All you could Wish For) "Series 2":
1852-53 Actualités (Current Affairs):
1852 Croquis Musicaux (Musical Sketches):
1852 Le Public du Salon ( The audience of the Salon):
1852 Les Parisiens en 1852 (Parisians of 1852):
1852-53 Les Trains de Plaisir (Pleasure Trains):
1852 Physionomies des Chemins de Fer (Physiognomies of the Railways):
1853 Scènes Parisiennes (Parisien Scenes):
1853 Les Raisins Malades (The Sour Grapes):
1853-56 Croquis Aquatiques (Aquatic Sketches):
1853 Croquis de Théatre (Theatre Sketches):
1856-65 Croquis Parisiens (Parisian Sketches):
1856-57 Croquis Dramatiques (Dramatic Sketches):
1852 Tout Ce Qu'on Voudra (All you could Wish For) "Series 2":
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| 1852 Quand des femmes savent avoir de la dignité... lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1852-53 Actualités (Current Affairs):
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| 1852 No.30. Recevant la férule lithograph on newsprint 25.4 x 20.6 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1853 No.51. Vue plan coupé et elévation des nouveau omnibus du boulevard. lithograph on newsprint 20.3 x 28.2 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1853 No.64. Les savans dans l’exercice de leurs fonctions,… lithograph 21.8 x 25.8 cm ( image ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1853 No.68. Parlez au concierge… mais il s’agit… lithograph on newsprint 36.4 x 25.2 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1853 No.86 - De la neige, de la vraie neige... je n'en avais pas vu à Paris depuis 1822... lithograph 25.9 x 37.5 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1852 Croquis Musicaux (Musical Sketches):
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| 1852 No.3. Aux Champs Élysées lithograph on newsprint 32.7 x 24.6 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1852 No.5. Un Monsieur tenant a prouver qu’il peut en meme temps chanter et toucher du piano… lithograph on newsprint 36 x 25.6 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1852 No.11. Orchestra of a bourgeois ball. lithograph 25.2 x 22.3 cm ( image ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1852 The Orchestra During the Performance of a Tragedy. lithograph 26.1 x 21.7 cm ( image ) The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
1852 Le Public du Salon ( The audience of the Salon):
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| 1852 No.10. A Day When You Do Not Pay–Twenty-Five-Degree Heat. lithograph on newsprint 24.5 x 21.6 cm ( image ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
1852 Les Parisiens en 1852 (Parisians of 1852):
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| 1852 No.4. Un Jour de représentation a bénéfice! lithograph on newsprint 24.4 x 20.6 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1852 No.8. Un Parisien resté fidèle... lithograph on newsprint 24.1 x 20.3 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1852 No.10. Se posant en appréciateurs... lithograph on newsprint 24.7 x 21.5 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
1852-53 Les Trains de Plaisir (Pleasure Trains):
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| 1852 No.1. Aspect d'une gare de chemin de fer au moment du départ d'un train de plaisir. lithograph 34.9 x 50 cm Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852 No.3. Un train de plaisir un peu trop gai. lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852 No.4. Parisiens regrettant vivement d'avoir eu l'idée d'aller voir la mer sans parapluie. lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852 No.7. Invasion de Paris par les Bas-Normands lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852 No.10 Ayant eu la fâcheuse idée d'aller...en mer. lithograph 20.9 x 26 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852-53 No.12. Parisiens recevant un grain sur la plage de Dieppe,... lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852-53 No.13. Parisiens surpris par la marée montante; autre émotion maritime. lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852-53 No.14. Autre émotion maritime. Allons, bon ! ... voilà mon chapeau à la mer !... lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
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| 1852-53 No.15. Le retour à Paris. - Deux nuits sans fermer l'œil!... lithograph Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1852 Physionomies des Chemins de Fer (Physiognomies of the Railways):
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| 1852 No.10. Invasion des wagons un jour où l'on fait partir... lithograph 26.2 x 36.1 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1853 Scènes Parisiennes (Parisien Scenes):
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| 1853 No.1. Ce qu'on appelle une conciliation en justice de paix. colour lithograph 26 x 34 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
1853 Les Raisins Malades (The Sour Grapes):
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| 1853 No.1. Scientists at work. Lithograph 21.2 x 25.8 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1853 No.4. The scientist - my friend, the vine (Vitis Linnoeus), is attached at the moment... lithograph 22.2. x 27.5 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1853 No.5. It isn't necessary to afflict you like that, my poor bunch... lithograph 20.7 x 26.1 cm ( image ) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
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| 1853 Tous ces raisins me font l’effet d’avoir la malade… lithograph 20.4 x 26.2 cm Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT |
1853-56 Croquis Aquatiques (Aquatic Sketches):
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| 1853 No.4. Le Flot qui la porta... lithograph on newsprint 21.5 x 26.3 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1854 No.2. Madame Prudhomme, ne nous pressons pas… lithograph 24.8 x 35.5 cm ( sheet ) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1856 No.2. Come in without fear, Monsieur Potard! You can see there is no danger, since I'm here! hand-coloured lithograph Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
1853 Croquis de Théatre (Theatre Sketches):
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| 1853 No.1. L'Amour et sa mère. lithograph 25.5 x 36 cm ( image ) Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris |
1856-65 Croquis Parisiens (Parisian Sketches):
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| 1856 Je ne vois pas pourquoi on ne nous nommerait pas aussi... lithograph on newsprint 20.3 x 25 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1856 No.5. A la recherche d'un logement le 8 juillet… colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1856 No.10. Ce qui représente la mer au peuple le plus spirituel de la terre. colour lithograph 28 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1856 No.19 Les Sous-Sols lithograph 25.3 x 37.3 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1857 No.33. Comme vous arrivez tard à la Bourse... lithograph on newsprint 20.3 x 25.7 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1857 No.37. La visite à l'atelier. colour lithograph 26 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1858 No.48. L'Arrivé à la bourse, un jour de hausse. colour lithograph 27 x 36 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1864 Encore complet!...je crois qu'ils le font exprès! gillotype on brown paper 16.8 x 25 cm ( image ) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia |
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| 1864 No.65. Which shows that even cleanliness can be hazardous. lithograph on newsprint 16.3 x 24.2 cm ( image ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1865 No.4. Le garde du commerce colour lithograph 36 x 26 cm ( sheet ) Boston Public Library, MA |
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| 1865 No.11. I am going to compromise your client properly! I am going to drag yours through the mud! lithograph on newsprint 24.2 x 19.8 cm ( image ) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
1856-57 Croquis Dramatiques (Dramatic Sketches):
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| 1856 No.5. Le Régisseur. - Voyons, mademoiselle, faites sonner les RRR... lithograph with pencil and watercolour 20.9 x 26.7 cm The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1857 No.8. V'là une p'tite femme qu'est pas paresseuse... lithograph on newsprint 20.9 x 27 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1857 No.9. Un Rappel de chanteuse... lithograph on newsprint 20.3 x 27 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1857 No.12. Le danseur qui se pique… lithograph and pencil, with scratching 22.4 x 26.1 cm The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
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| 1857 No.15. Ce qui nous prouve comme quoi il est...inutile... lithograph on newsprint 19.6 x 27 cm ( image ) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA |
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| 1852-55 A Woman Fleeing against the Wind 39.4 x 27.4 cm Albertina, Graphische Sammlung, Vienna |
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| 1852-57 The Satyr and the Little Faun oil on panel 24.5 x 18.2 cm Scharf Collection, Germany |
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| 1852c Two Infants oil on canvas 27.3 x 21.5 cm Itami City Museum of Art, Japan |
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| 1853 Susannah and the Elders oil on panel 19.1 x 25.4 cm The Burrell Collection, UK |
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| 1853-54 Pleading Lawyer oil on panel 21.6 x 27.6 cm Private Collection |