Viens donc ..., mon ami, je ne trouve pas ... c. 19th century

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph in France, around 1859, satirizing the Paris Salon, an annual exhibition sponsored by the French government and the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Daumier's image shows a bourgeois gentleman, catalogue in hand, scrutinizing a painting that depicts a rather unfortunate-looking angel. The man's companion finds the artwork unappealing, but our gentleman—a pharmacist, no less—finds it interesting. The caption suggests the painting depicts “the trial of a new medicine,” and the pharmacist is consulting his book for further enlightenment. Daumier critiques the Salon's pretensions, hinting at the absurdity of its aesthetic judgments and the social climbing it encouraged. His caricatures and pointed social commentary challenged the Academy's control over artistic taste. To understand Daumier fully, consider sources like exhibition reviews, Salon catalogs, and period newspapers. These sources reveal the shifting dynamics between artists, institutions, and the public in 19th-century France. Art, as Daumier reminds us, is always embedded in its social and institutional context.