Art, literature & history
“It's important for a man to know how to swim. He is not doing so badly for a start. You could think it's a fish, at least while he is attached to the cord. But he'll learn it… he is still young!,” plate 5 from Les Baigneurs
1839
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Lithograph in black, with scraping on stone on ivory wove paper, with letterpress verso
- Dimensions
- Image: 20.2 × 27.4 cm (8 × 10 13/16 in.); Sheet: 24.7 × 36.2 cm (9 3/4 × 14 5/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- RX20769/2124
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Honoré Daumier. “It's important for a man to know how to swim. He is not doing so badly for a start. You could think it's a fish, at least while he is attached to the cord. But he'll learn it… he is still young!,” plate 5 from Les Baigneurs. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
“It's important for a man to know how to swim. He is not doing so badly for a start. You could think it's a fish, at least while he is attached to the cord. But he'll learn it… he is still young!,” plate 5 from Les Baigneurs — Honoré Daumier. 1839.
Medium: Lithograph in black, with scraping on stone on ivory wove paper, with letterpress verso. Dimensions: Image: 20.2 × 27.4 cm (8 × 10 13/16 in.); Sheet: 24.7 × 36.2 cm (9 3/4 × 14 5/16 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.