Allons... baisez ce maitre... tout de suite... 1838

This lithograph by Honoré Daumier captures a moment thick with social tension and distorted power. The dominant symbol here is the act of coerced homage – the demand for a kiss, laden with implications of dominance and subjugation. This motif echoes through art history, recurring in depictions of feudal lords demanding fealty or religious figures expecting veneration. Consider, for example, how similar gestures of submission appear in medieval religious art, where kneeling before a deity signifies devotion. Here, however, Daumier twists it, exposing the darker, more carnal undercurrents of power dynamics. The forced kiss, therefore, becomes a charged symbol. It suggests a psychological landscape where power is asserted through the violation of personal space. It is not just about the kiss itself, but the humiliation, and the disquieting resonance it holds within our collective memory of historical power imbalances.