Two Good Neighbors, plate 25 from Locataires Et Propriétaires 1847

This lithograph, "Two Good Neighbors," was created by Honoré Daumier in France, portraying two men greeting each other over a garden wall. Their raised hats are gestures steeped in the iconography of bourgeois civility, yet there's an undercurrent, a latent tension. Consider the hat itself: In medieval times, the hat signified status and allegiance. Here, the raised hat is meant to denote respect, but also a desire to maintain social boundaries, a delicate dance of deference and defense. Think back to Renaissance paintings where similar gestures might signal piety or allegiance to a patron. But here, Daumier subverts this. The figures exchange a greeting, but observe their fixed smiles. Are they genuine? Or are they concealing a simmering animosity, the kind that festers in close quarters? The shared garden wall becomes a stage for this uneasy performance, a barrier between private worlds and public faces. The hats are raised, the smiles are offered, but the shadows of conflict lurk beneath. This is the eternal return of social etiquette, where outward harmony often masks the darker truths of human interaction.