Artwork
Voyons ... ouvrons le bouche! ...
Voyons ... ouvrons le bouche! ... is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Honoré Daumier. It dates from 1864 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Honoré Daumier’s lithograph titled *Voyons … ouvrons le bouche!* presents a scene inside a dental office. The composition centers on a dentist poised with his instruments while a patient sits reclined, visibly uneasy. The work captures a fleeting moment of interaction, using the medium’s capacity for fine line work to render both figures with clarity and immediacy.
Subject & Meaning
The print juxtaposes the dentist’s self‑assured demeanor with the patient’s apprehensive expression, highlighting the common fear of dental treatment in the nineteenth century. By exaggerating the emotional contrast, Daumier comments on the broader social anxiety surrounding emerging medical practices, turning an ordinary appointment into a study of vulnerability and professional confidence.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, the image relies on delicate hatching and bold contours to define the characters and interior space. Daumier’s characteristic satirical realism appears in the exaggerated facial features and the crisp rendering of the dental tools, allowing the viewer to discern both the physical setting and the psychological tension within a single plate.
History & Provenance
Created during Daumier’s prolific period of social caricature, the lithograph was produced for the French print market that favored topical, humorous subjects.
Created during Daumier’s prolific period of social caricature, the lithograph was produced for the French print market that favored topical, humorous subjects. It circulated among the middle‑class audience of the 1860s, reflecting contemporary interest in medical advances. The work now resides in several public collections, attesting to its continued relevance as a documentary illustration of everyday life.
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.
Un Lutteur malheureux
Un Lutteur malheureux
Oh! la... tant mieux... ça prouve qu'elle vient!
Punctual (Ponctuelle)
Vous allez voir!... ça va arrêter le sang...
Ne soyez pas inquiets ...
The Duel (Le duel)
Eh! Bien ... mon ami, a quoi penses-tu? ...![The Surgeon [reverse copy], by Netherlandish 16th Century](https://artifactworldgallery.com/img/netherlandish-16th-century--the-surgeon-reverse-copy--12ced91956e84708-w320.webp)
The Surgeon [reverse copy]
Le Charbonnier aime être (est maitre)...