1865
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Aux bains a quatre sous is a 1865 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, depicting Bathing, held at National Gallery of Art.
This lithograph shows a crowded public bath in 1860s Paris. People splash, chat, and relax in murky water. Daumier’s exaggerated faces and squiggly lines give it energy. The artist used a greasy crayon on stone to press these images onto paper. That trick is called lithography. It lets lines look loose and lively, not stiff. It feels like a snapshot from real life. Check out lithography next time you see a Daumier, Honoré.
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
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