Voyageurs appréciant de moins en moins les wagons de troisième classe...
published 1856
Medium
lithograph on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 19.5 x 25.6 cm (7 11/16 x 10 1/16 in.) sheet: 25.4 x 38 cm (10 x 14 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1989.62.1
Art Historical Context
In 1856, French artist Honoré Daumier the gritty realities of mid-19th-century travel his lithograph *Voyageurs appréciant moins en moins les wagons troisième classe...* ("Travelers Appreciating Less and Less Third-Class Wagons..."). Published during the rapid expansion of France's railway network under Napoleon III's Second Empire, the print satirizes the discomforts endured by working-class passengers crammed into spartan third-class cars. Daumier, a master caricaturist, used his keen eye for social injustice to highlight class divides, much like his thousands of lithographs critiquing lawye...
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...