Le Jour ou l'on dine chez Monsieur le Directeur...
1852
Medium
lithograph
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.3190
Art Historical Context
Honoré Daumier's *Le Jour ou l'on dine Monsieur le Directeur...* (1852) is a sharp lithograph from the French master's prolific output of social satire. Produced during the turbulent Second Republic in France, just before Napoleon III's rise, it captures Daumier's keen eye for bourgeois pretensions. The title—"The Day One Dines at Mr. Director's..."—evokes the awkward rituals of middle-class dinner parties, likely mocking the stiff hierarchies of office life or climbing the social ladder under a modernizing regime. As a lithograph, the work exemplifies Daumier's mastery of this revolutionary ...
About the Artist
Honoré Daumier · 1810–1879
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (1808-1879) was a prolific French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor whose works offered incisive commentary on the social and political life of 19th-century France. Known as the 'Michelangelo of Caricature,' Daumier produced over 4,000 lithographs, 500 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and 100 sculptures during his lifetime. His biting political satire led to his imp...