Voyons, voyons ... pas tant d'empressement ... c. 19th century

Here, Honoré Daumier captures a bustling Parisian scene with his lithographic wit. We see passengers clamoring to board an omnibus, their faces etched with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. This collective surge embodies a recurring motif of human movement and its attendant emotions. Consider the iconography of the crowd itself. Throughout art history, crowds symbolize various states, from chaotic disarray to communal unity. Daumier's crowd seems to hover between the two. We are reminded of Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People," where a crowd surges forward, driven by revolutionary fervor. But here, the driving force is the mundane desire to secure a seat on public transport. This image of collective urgency evokes deep, subconscious echoes, reminding us that even in everyday scenes, primal emotions and energies are at play. These motifs—the crowd, the vehicle, the expressions of eagerness and apprehension—form a non-linear progression that resurfaces in different guises. It underscores our shared human experience across the ages.