“- It seems that the sea serpent has reappeared in the Indian Ocean!... - Oh, my God... is it possible!... - Of course it's possible if I tell you that it has been printed like that in the Constitutionnel!...,” plate 20 from Les Bons Bourgeois 1846

This lithograph, made by Honoré Daumier, captures a scene of bourgeois life, dominated by the power of the printed word. The act of reading, particularly when it comes to sensational news, is central. Notice the figures clustered around the newspaper, their faces animated by the tale of a sea serpent in the Indian Ocean. This harkens back to ancient myths of sea monsters, guardians of the unknown. Consider the serpent, or dragon, as it appears in the ancient world. As Ouroboros, the serpent that devours its own tail, it appears as a symbol of cyclical time and eternity. The serpent’s recurrence in the popular press underscores our enduring fascination with the primal, with the mysteries that lie beyond our understanding. This speaks to a collective yearning for the extraordinary, for the boundaries of reality to be stretched, perhaps tapping into subconscious desires and anxieties. The bourgeois family finds itself captivated by the same symbol that once stirred the ancients, now transformed into fodder for sensational journalism. The serpent, though, remains, a powerful reminder of the timeless human capacity for wonder and fear.