The Displeasure of a Sculpture Placed in the Middle of an Exhibition of Paintings, plate 5 from Salon De 1857

The Displeasure of a Sculpture Placed in the Middle of an Exhibition of Paintings, plate 5 from Salon De 1857 — Honoré Daumier. 1857.

Medium: Lithograph in black on white wove paper. Dimensions: Image: 24.6 × 21 cm (9 11/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 35.8 × 27.5 cm (14 1/8 × 10 7/8 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

In this lithograph, Daumier lampooned the popularity of paintings in the annual Salon by placing an overwrought sculpture atop a round settee in the center of a painting gallery. The total number of works of art exhibited at the Salon was already over 5,000 by this date, and paintings were hung nearly from floor to ceiling. As a result, the sculpture in the middle of the room becomes effectively invisible, as viewers seated below only look outward. With so much color on the surrounding walls, the sculpture becomes a monochrome, washed-out specter despite its imposing scale and animated antics.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

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.