Trio d’amateurs 1863 - 1867

Honoré Daumier painted this expressive scene of three musicians, probably in the 1860s or 70s, using oil on canvas. Daumier’s paintings often explore the lives of ordinary people, far from the grand narratives of academic art. Here, his material handling is as important as his subject. Notice the thickly applied paint, smeared and dabbed to create a sense of immediacy. This isn’t the smooth, polished surface you’d expect from a formally trained artist. Instead, Daumier embraced a rough, almost sculptural approach, building up the forms of his figures with bold strokes. The rapid execution suggests a kind of creative labor far removed from the painstaking craftsmanship of earlier generations. It speaks to a changing social landscape, where the artist is less a technician and more a direct conduit for emotion and observation. By focusing on the working classes, and using a method that emphasizes process over finish, Daumier democratized both the subject and the making of art.