1844
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Dis donc, Bichette... a quoi songes-tu donc... is a 1844 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a woman in a loose nightgown standing wide-eyed in a dim room, holding a lit candle. A hunched figure in a cloak lurks behind her, one arm outstretched as if reaching for her. The floor is messy, with a spilled liquid or object pooling near her feet. A piano sits half-hidden in the shadows, and the whole scene feels tense and chaotic. The artist used quick, sketchy lines to show movement and emotion, almost like a hurried sketch. This was printed on cheap paper, meant for everyday people to read with their news. If this style intrigues you, look up lithography to see how artists like Daumier made prints fast.
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.
See the richer artist page
