← Honoré Daumier Honoré Daumier — Working in the garden can be fun... but there are days when it is just too damn hot! / One rejoices in pure, unspoiled happiness when harvesting one's own apples... at least as long as one doesn't break one's neck, from "The joys of country life"

Honoré Daumier — Working in the garden can be fun... but there are days when it is just too damn hot! / One rejoices in pure, unspoiled happiness when harvesting one's own apples... at least as long as one doesn't break one's neck, from "The joys of country life"

Working in the garden can be fun... but there are days when it is just too damn hot! / One rejoices in pure, unspoiled happiness when harvesting one's own apples... at least as long as one doesn't break one's neck, from "The joys of country life"

Original title: Working in the garden can be fun... but there are days when it is just too damn hot! / One rejoices in pure, unspoiled happiness when harvesting one's own apples... at least as long as one doesn't break one's neck, from "The joys of country life"

Artist: Honoré Daumier
Date: September 14, 1865
Medium: Lithograph on newsprint; second state of two (Delteil)
Dimensions: Image: 9 13/16 × 8 1/2 in. (25 × 21.6 cm) Sheet: 14 3/4 × 11 5/16 in. (37.5 × 28.8 cm)
Credit line: Bequest of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1957

kurzbeschreibung

This lithograph from 1865 by Honoré Daumier belongs to the series 'Les Plaisirs de la Campagne' (The Pleasures of Country Life). It shows two men in a rural garden, their ill humour targeting the drudgery of gardening under scorching heat. The sheet is a lithograph on newsprint and corresponds to the second of two states.

Description

Two male figures in peasant clothing and hats dominate the foreground. The man on the left stands with arms crossed, looking pensive; his counterpart on the right clutches his head with both hands, sweat drops on his forehead, his face contorted in pain – the heat seems to overwhelm him. Behind them, other people can be seen gardening, surrounded by plants and a fence. The reproduction remains black and white, and the caricature-like exaggerated facial features shape the entire arrangement.

Context

On 14 September 1865, the print appeared as a contribution to 'Les Plaisirs de la Campagne', a series Daumier drew for the satirical magazine Le Charivari. In it, he ironically mocked the bourgeois enthusiasm for country life. The time of its creation falls in a phase when the Parisian middle class increasingly discovered the countryside as a place of recreation.

Impact

The exaggerated expressions and contrasting postures of the two men provoke amusement without exposing the figures to ridicule. By presenting the heat as a physically felt plague, the print exposes the glorification of country life as deceptive. The clear layout places the pair at the centre and brings out their different reactions immediately.

Technique

For reproduction, Daumier used lithography on newsprint – a process frequently employed in his series because it allowed fast and inexpensive editions. The drawing was made with greasy chalk on the stone and then transferred to paper. The second state differs from the first through subsequent revisions.

AI-generated description text

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)