Spleen et Idéal
c. 1876
Medium
etching, drypoint, and foul bite in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 16.2 x 8.8 cm (6 3/8 x 3 7/16 in.) sheet: 31.4 x 22.9 cm (12 3/8 x 9 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.16
Art Historical Context
Félix-Hilaire Buh's *Spleen et Idéal* (c. 1876) captures the poetic tension between melancholy and aspiration, echoing Charles Baudelaire's famous motifs from *Les Fleurs Mal*. This intimate print, housed in the National Gallery of, reflects the late 19th-century fascination with the inner life, blending Romantic introspection with emerging modernist sensibilities. Buhot, a etcher active during the Impressionist era, was renowned for pushing printmaking beyond mere reproduction into painterly expression. Crafted through etching, drypoint, and foul bite on cream laid paper, the work showcases ...
About the Artist
Félix-Hilaire Buhot · 1847–1898
Félix-Hilaire Buhot was born on July 9, 1847, in Valognes, a small town in Normandy, France, into a modest family—his father a wine merchant and his mother a seller of women's clothes. Orphaned by age seven after losing both parents and his maternal grandmother, he was raised by relatives, including a godfather, and received an early introduction to drawing from his adopted mother's nephew. In 186...