1868
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Expérience d'équilibre is a 1868 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This drawing shows a giant, lumpy figure in fancy clothes sitting on one side of a balance scale. The figure’s pockets bulge with numbers like "1000" and "500." On the other side, a small pile of round objects—maybe potatoes or coins—is barely holding up the scale. The title *Expérience d'équilibre* (which means "balance experiment") hints this is a joke about money and power. The heavy figure looks like a rich person, while the tiny pile represents what they’re "worth" to others. Want to see more? Look up lithography to learn how artists like Daumier made prints like this.
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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