Expérience qui réussit trop bien 1853

Editor: This is Honoré Daumier’s lithograph, *Expérience qui réussit trop bien*, made in 1853. The scene is so chaotic! It looks like a séance gone wild, with figures flailing around a levitating table. What do you see in this piece, from a symbolic perspective? Curator: Daumier here taps into the 19th-century obsession with spiritualism. Table-turning, or “fluidomanie” as the title suggests, became a popular craze. Notice how he exaggerates the figures' features, rendering them almost grotesque? This amplifies the critique of irrational beliefs seizing society. Consider how the floating table—the supposed centerpiece of spiritual connection—becomes a symbol of absurdity itself. What cultural anxieties might this exaggerated portrayal be reflecting? Editor: I guess the anxieties of modern life, the unknown forces at play. The lithograph highlights the ridiculousness of seeking meaning in supernatural phenomena when perhaps meaning could be found elsewhere? Curator: Precisely. Daumier also links spiritualism with Romanticism’s turn to the irrational and emotional. The romantic movement in literature, painting and even architecture celebrated strong feelings. Can you see the tension there, how Romanticism prized strong feelings, while this lithograph ridicules excessive, misguided enthusiasms? Editor: Absolutely! The emotional extremes of the figures are comical. I see how Daumier uses caricature to critique not just spiritualism, but a broader cultural mood, the risk of surrendering reason to… whatever this is! Curator: Yes, the wild emotionality is captured by posture, angle, expression - the formal elements intensify meaning! Symbols become charged when faith abandons rationality, don’t they? This image captures an enduring aspect of human nature, our attraction to the mysterious and unknown. Editor: This has me questioning what it is that societies use as anchors during great cultural or technological change. It appears here that perhaps Daumier suggests spiritualism is more of a crutch than an answer. Curator: And maybe Daumier wanted us to wonder whether there were other "fluidomanies" present at that time.