Inconvénient de quitter un instant un convoi de chemin de fer sous n’importe quel pretexte from Les Bons Bourgeois
Creator
Honoré Daumier
(French, 1808 - 1879)
Datec. 1847
Mediumlithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 34.6 x 26.4 cm (13 5/8 x 10 3/8 in.)
Image: 25.7 x 22.9 cm (10 1/8 x 9 in.)
Image: 25.7 x 22.9 cm (10 1/8 x 9 in.)
Credit LineGift of Messrs. Heintzman and Knoedler, 1927
Object number932
ProvenanceIn this lithograph, two bourgeois men have left their train; a decision they greatly regret as their locomotive moves on in to the distance. In France, the nationalization of the railway system had begun in the late 1830s, a development Daumier loosely recorded in some of his prints. Trains enabled people to travel to places such as Le Havre and Orleans at higher speeds (though still only moderately fast in comparison to modern trains), and were separated in coaches based on social class. Bourgeois men are here shown encountering difficulties to adapt to modern ways of life – a theme that runs through Daumier’s Les Bons Bourgeois series – and display a level of insecurity while visiting the countryside. Daumier highlights this by having the hat of one of the men blowing in the wind (a detail that appears in several of Daumier’s prints, including Delteil 1528), while the other man covers his hat with haste.
LocationNot currently on display
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Honoré Daumier
c. 1846
Print
Honoré Daumier
c. 1854
Print