A Difficult Navigation. “- The boat doesn't move! Pull Dumouchel, pull.... why the devil don't you pull! - But I am doing nothing else than that for the last three hours!.... and this is called a pleasure trip! I'd rather sell my prunes in rue de la Verrerie.... that's less tiring!,” plate 6 from Les Canotiers Parisiens 1843

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph titled “A Difficult Navigation” as plate six from *Les Canotiers Parisiens*. Daumier lived through several French revolutions. He was jailed for his caricatures of the monarchy, and was a Republican who used his art to address political issues. Here, we see two men struggling to pull a boat full of people along a river. The exhaustion and frustration are palpable. One man says he would rather sell prunes on the street, it would be less tiring than this so-called pleasure trip! This image speaks to the experience of the working class in 19th-century Paris, where leisure activities were often just as difficult as their daily labor. It reveals the social dynamics and class tensions inherent in leisure, highlighting the physical and emotional toll on those who literally have to pull others along. Daumier uses humor to invite us to reflect on the ironies and hardships embedded in the pursuit of leisure.