A deputy's nightmare: –Oh my friend, what has happened? –I dreamed I was invalidated, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, December 7, 1869 (December 7, 1869, Met-Objekt 3574)
Original title: A deputy's nightmare: –Oh my friend, what has happened? –I dreamed I was invalidated, from 'News of the day,' published in Le Charivari, December 7, 1869
kurzbeschreibung
A deputy bolts upright in the night, and Honoré Daumier turns that jolt into a lithograph from 1869: a parliamentarian terrified that his mandate has been declared void while he slept. Beside the man rousing himself sits a second figure, arms thrown up in the same horror. The sheet ran as a caricature in the satirical paper Le Charivari.
Description
Night hangs over the whole sheet. Up front, someone lies in bed, flinging his arms high and staring in dismay; next to him another person sits, gesturing just as wildly and looking just as frightened. Both wear dark robes, which deepens the gloom. The setting stays vague and murky, while the figures are drawn with sweeping, forceful strokes. Black and white is the whole palette, as usual for lithographs; the postures and style come across as caricature, and as drama. Text lines and the year 1869 run along the bottom of the sheet.
Context
Daumier drew the sheet for Le Charivari, the Paris satirical journal of the nineteenth century. It belongs to the series 'News of the Day', in which he skewered the political and social events of his time. The title points to a deputy dreading the loss of his political office. The work dates from the Second Empire under Napoleon III, when political satire circulated widely in France.
Impact
The forceful drawing and dark tonality produce a tangible sense of oppression. Exaggerated gestures and expressions heighten the dramatic effect, so the deputy's fear becomes immediately legible. Humour and a critical message about the precariousness of political careers join forces here.
Technique
The sheet was printed as a lithograph on newsprint, a common process for satirical prints in the nineteenth century. This is the second state of two (Delteil). Black and white remains the palette; dynamic lines and strong contrasts define the execution and match Daumier's hand.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)