Artwork
Un dernier toast
Un dernier toast is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1843 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Un dernier toast, a lithograph by Honoré Daumier, depicts a dynamic moment of communal drinking, where a man, standing on a table, prepares to pour a drink, surrounded by onlookers exhibiting varied reactions.
Subject & Meaning
The scene focuses on the social dynamics and emotional responses within a group during a potentially poignant or celebratory toast, using the central figure's exaggerated gestures and facial expressions to highlight the drama of the moment.
Technique & Style
Executed in lithography, the work leverages the medium's capabilities for expressive line work and tonal range, enhancing the caricatured features of the figures and the overall sense of energy.
Context
Created in the context of 19th-century French social commentary, the piece reflects Daumier's penchant for observing and critiquing everyday life and the people within it, often using humor and exaggeration as commentary tools.
Artist & collection
Artist
Honoré-Victorin Daumier was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the Second French Empire in 1870.
Dire qu'il y a des gens qui boivent de l'absinthe ...
Un banquet de barbistes
Un récit de chasse
Un souvenir de gloire
Vue prise a la buvette pendant la canicule
A la santé du raisin! ...
Un invité à un dîner d'hippophages: Vous offrirai-je encore un peu? C'est excellent, n'est-ce pas?
Le vin de propriétaire