1845
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Un Chapeau neuf is a 1845 ink by Honoré Daumier, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows three men in a dimly lit room. The man on the left, turned away, points at a top hat the other two are holding. Their faces are exaggerated—big noses, serious expressions—and the hat looks too big for one of them. The background is fuzzy, like a curtain or smoke, and the whole scene feels cramped. The caption at the bottom jokes about the hat being too small, written in French. The artist played with how people react to fashion—here, the hat is the punchline. Next, look up lithography to see how this sketch 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.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
