Un Jour de grande toilette 1847

This lithograph by Honoré Daumier, titled 'Un Jour de grande toilette,' presents a seemingly mundane scene: a man meticulously cleaning a wig as another relaxes in a bathtub. Yet, beneath this bourgeois surface lies a potent symbol of vanity. Consider the wig. Throughout history, wigs have signified status and authority, from the elaborate styles of the Egyptian pharaohs to the powdered wigs of the European aristocracy. Here, the act of carefully cleaning this artifice speaks to a deeper concern with outward appearances. We see echoes of this across time, from ancient Roman busts meticulously styled to Renaissance portraits emphasizing opulent clothing. The bathtub itself, a space of cleansing and purification, contrasts ironically with the man's fixation on the superficial. This resonates with the recurring motif of the 'fountain of youth' in allegorical paintings, where external beauty is sought through artificial means. Daumier's scene then is not merely about cleanliness, but also about how our anxieties about aging and status manifest in the theater of everyday life, played out in the most intimate of settings.