"I'm not going back down there... I think..." 1839

Editor: So, this is Honoré Daumier's lithograph, "I'm not going back down there... I think...". There's no date on it, but it's pretty unsettling, right? I mean, those bathers look like they've seen a ghost. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Ha! Unsettling indeed. Daumier, bless his heart, used satire to poke fun at Parisian society. The exaggerated features, the skinny guy's horror, the other fellow's nonchalance... It's a comedic critique of public bathhouses and perhaps our own anxieties about exposing ourselves, literally and figuratively. Do you feel the humor bubbling under the surface? Editor: I think so. I was so focused on the grimacing faces that I missed the joke. Curator: Exactly! Sometimes the darkest humor hides in plain sight. It's a reminder that even our fears can be a source of laughter, or at least a wry smile. Editor: Well, I’ll never look at a public bathhouse the same way again. Curator: Nor should you! Daumier's wit has a way of sticking with you, doesn't it?