1866
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Les Saltimbanques is a 1866 watercolor by Honoré Daumier, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
A clown stands on a chair, drum in hand, trying to draw a crowd. His son watches the empty space beyond. The other son steadies the chair while their mother slumps, giving up. Daumier knew this scene well. He spent years drawing street performers, showing their real struggles. This watercolor captures their quiet despair. Want to see more like this? Check out Daumier, Honoré.
A watercolour drawing depicts a family of itinerant circus performers outdoors at a fair. At the centre, an ageing clown strikes a drum balanced on a chair, while one son stands to the left watching the distant crowd and the other kneels to the right steadying the chair. The mother sits on the far left, her posture reflecting resignation. The scene captures the family’s effort to attract attention amid the crowd’s indifference.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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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