“- Sire! Lisbon has been captured. - aaaah!!... and I dreamt that I had fought courageously!,” plate 304 1833

Curator: This is Honoré Daumier's lithograph from 1833, titled "- Sire! Lisbon has been captured. - aaaah!!... and I dreamt that I had fought courageously!," currently residing here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: Well, immediately the stark contrasts of light and shadow give the scene a dramatic, almost theatrical air. The lines are so pronounced, they really sculpt the figures, particularly that distressed gentleman. Curator: He is indeed the focal point. Note how Daumier employs caricature to underscore the gap between aspiration and reality. This character's dream of valor contrasts sharply with the news of Lisbon's capture. Think of it in terms of the cultural memory of Napoleonic heroism fading, replaced by… this. Editor: Absolutely. And look at the composition. The figure on the left, presumably a military man, is rigid, almost stoic, a vertical line, in stark contrast to the dynamism of the other. His twisting pose, the thrown-back head, the clenched fist, it's a vortex of emotional energy, isn't it? Curator: It speaks to a deep sense of powerlessness and the crumbling of national pride. He’s wrapped in that simple white cloth that is draped all over the place. To me, the cloth hints at the shrouds or coverings for the dead, pointing to a more general collapse in social values, perhaps? The romantic notion of the hero, supplanted by a more bourgeois, self-serving reality. Editor: A very interesting reading. I was taken by the expressive economy of Daumier’s line. He masterfully uses just a few marks to convey the nuances of distress and the weight of disappointment. Note also, the patterned design underfoot creates another point of interesting texture that seems strangely decorative and completely at odds with the dire subject. Curator: Daumier, through this pointed commentary on a contemporary event, speaks to the timeless human condition of disillusionment. The weight of historical forces impacting the individual psyche. Editor: It's remarkable how a work so defined by specific details, like the military garb and textual details, can transcend its historical context through masterful rendering of form and expression.