Artwork
VOILLLLLLLLLLLA LE GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAND galop charivarique
VOILLLLLLLLLLLA LE GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAND galop charivarique is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1839 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Honoré Dauméer’s lithograph presents a bustling street tableau where horse‑drawn carriages, riders, and a throng of onlookers intermingle.
About this work
Overview
Musicians are positioned amid the crowd, their instruments adding a sense of movement, while participants wave hats and gesture exuberantly.
Honoré Dauméer’s lithograph presents a bustling street tableau where horse‑drawn carriages, riders, and a throng of onlookers intermingle. Musicians are positioned amid the crowd, their instruments adding a sense of movement, while participants wave hats and gesture exuberantly. The composition is dominated by exaggerated facial expressions and contorted postures, creating a sense of organized chaos that captures a moment of public festivity.
Subject & Meaning
The print satirizes a popular mid‑nineteenth‑century dance known as the galop charivarique, a craze that swept Parisian society. By amplifying the participants’ gestures and smiles, Daumier lampoons the frivolity of the fashion‑obsessed crowd, suggesting a critique of the fleeting nature of trends and the collective enthusiasm that fuels them.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, the work relies on bold, fluid lines and stark contrasts to convey motion. Daumier’s characteristic use of caricature, distorted features and exaggerated poses, enhances the comedic tone. The print’s dense hatching and varied tonal values give depth to the crowded scene while preserving the immediacy of a newspaper illustration.
Context
Created during the 1830s, a period marked by rapid urbanization and the rise of mass entertainment in Paris, the image reflects Daumier’s ongoing engagement with contemporary popular culture. The lengthy, shouted title mimics the noisy advertisements of the era, reinforcing the work’s role as a visual commentary on the city’s ever‑changing fads.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (French: ; 26 February 1808 – 10 or 11 February 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the…
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