1857
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Les planetes étant elles-mêmes is a 1857 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This lithograph shows eight floating figures in robes, heads pressed to telescopes under a starry sky. They look like ancient astronomers waiting for a comet. The artist uses light and shadow to make the clouds feel real. Daumier wasn’t just joking. He made fun of people who act serious about things they don’t understand. The robes and sky give it a grand feel, but the real joke is in the details. Check out Daumier, Honoré next time you’re at the museum.
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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