The Empire means Peace, from 'News of the day,' published in "L'Album du Siège"
Original title: The Empire means Peace, from 'News of the day,' published in "L'Album du Siège"
kurzbeschreibung
Honoré Daumier made this lithograph in 1870 as part of his series L'Album du Siège. It presents a devastated city: rubble, a collapsed building, and a lifeless figure in the foreground. The caption added below, "L'EMPIRE C'EST LA PAIX," functions as an ironic comment.
Description
Debris and a ruined building with a damaged gate and shattered windows dominate the foreground. A cloud of smoke drifts from left to right across the structure. Behind it, more ruined houses appear, along with a landscape of trees and birds. A dead person lies on the ground. Monochrome grays and gloomy light define the view and emphasize the extent of the destruction.
Context
The subject arose during the siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It was published in the satirical journal L'Album du Siège, which followed the war from a French perspective. The caption twists the well-known Bonapartist motto and casts a critical light on the era of Napoleon III. Three states of the lithograph exist; the Metropolitan Museum holds the third.
Impact
The somber lighting and the plainly visible ruins create an oppressive mood. The contrast between the propagandistic slogan and the unsparing display of destruction feels ironic and exposes the rhetoric of peace as empty.
Technique
For this print Daumier used lithography on wove paper. The gradations of gray result from varying amounts of ink applied to the lithographic stone. The work is printed in the third of three states, as recorded by Delteil.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)