1840
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
La Queue au spectacle is a 1840 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a crowded theater balcony packed with people in old-fashioned clothes. Some are leaning over the railing, watching the stage below. A guard stands stiffly in the doorway, blocking the exit. The faces look tense, and the scene feels cramped and chaotic. The title *La Queue au spectacle* means "The Line for the Show," hinting this is about waiting for tickets. The artist used quick, sketchy lines to show the crowd’s frustration. Next, look up lithography to see how this print was made.
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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