Tu m'embêtes, mon épouse!... v'la une heure... 1843

This lithograph, made by Honoré Daumier in 19th-century France, depicts a bourgeois Parisian family caught in a snowstorm. Daumier was a master of social commentary, and his prints often satirized the manners and pretensions of the French middle class. Here, Daumier uses the visual language of caricature to mock the family’s discomfort. The title translates to "You bother me, my wife!... for an hour now you've been telling me it's snowing; I see it perfectly well!... and to think that I have an umbrella... at home!" The image and text together point to the man's passive aggressive character, concerned more with his own inconvenience than with offering his wife and child comfort. Daumier's prints were widely circulated in newspapers like *Le Charivari*, making his social critiques accessible to a broad audience. To understand Daumier's art more fully, scholars consult period newspapers and conduct studies of the social conditions of 19th-century France. In the end, art reminds us that its meaning emerges from its historical moment.