Les réjouissances de Juillet... vues de Ste. Pélagie 1834

"Les réjouissances de Juillet... vues de Ste. Pélagie" (The Joys of July... Seen from Sainte-Pélagie), created in 1834 by Honoré Daumier, depicts a group of people crammed into a room, peering out a window at a hot air balloon. The scene is most likely set in Sainte-Pélagie prison, where Daumier was briefly imprisoned for his political cartoons. The work is a social commentary on the inequalities of 19th-century France and the artist's own experience with political oppression. Daumier, known for his satirical lithographs, uses a stark black-and-white palette and expressive lines to emphasize the contrast between the prisoners' confinement and the freedom of the balloon.