View of the Seine near Asnières during the dog days, plate 2 from Croquis D'été 1854

Honoré Daumier created this lithograph titled 'View of the Seine near Asnières during the dog days' sometime in the mid-19th century. The print depicts a crowd of Parisians escaping the summer heat in the river Seine. Daumier was a master of social commentary. The work satirizes the middle class's leisure activities. The exaggerated features and the sheer number of people crammed into the water create a sense of absurdity. This was a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization in France. The emerging middle class sought leisure activities and the river became a place of social mixing. Daumier's image both reflects and critiques these changing social dynamics. To understand Daumier's work better, we can look at sources such as newspapers and social commentaries of the time. Art history reminds us that meaning is always tied to the context in which art is made and viewed.