L'Eau est délicieuse... je t'assure...1845
A woman sits fully dressed on the bank beneath a tree, her bonnet at her side, while a man up to his shoulders in the water assures her that it is delicious. More about this work
About this work
A woman sits fully dressed on the bank beneath a tree, her bonnet at her side, while a man up to his shoulders in the water assures her that it is delicious. Honoré Daumier published thousands of lithographs in the Parisian satirical press, above all in Le Charivari, and many of them poke fun at middle-class Parisians and their attempts to enjoy bathing, holidays and the countryside. The caption, “The water is delicious… I assure you…”, supplies the joke, and her firmly seated pose suggests she is not convinced.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
The image shows a woman sitting beside a body of water, under a tree. She is wearing a long dress and holding a bonnet by her side. In the water, a person is visible from the shoulders up with short hair. The background includes a landscape with trees, water, and a distant structure that resembles a house or castle.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Lithograph
- Drawn on limestone with a greasy crayon or ink. The stone is kept damp, and the oily printing ink clings only to the drawing. Invented in the 1790s, it let artists print exactly as they drew.
Honoré Daumier
French, 1808–1879 · Born in Marseilles; died in Valmondois.
Daumier grew up in Paris after his family left Marseilles, and learned lithography as a young man. For some forty years he drew for satirical papers such as La Caricature and Le Charivari, producing around four thousand lithographs that mocked politicians, lawyers and the habits of the Parisian middle class; a caricature of King Louis-Philippe earned him six months in prison in 1832. His paintings and drawings, such as The Third-Class Carriage, treat ordinary people with deep sympathy.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1978.104.5
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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