Le colin-maillard 

Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted "Le colin-maillard," depicting a game of blind man's bluff, in the effervescent atmosphere of 18th-century France. The painting captures a moment of leisure among the upper classes, yet it subtly reveals the era's complex negotiations of gender and power. Here, the woman, playfully blindfolded, becomes an object of both amusement and desire for the surrounding figures. Fragonard, celebrated for his sensual and playful scenes, offers a glimpse into the social rituals that both defined and confined women's roles. While seemingly lighthearted, the game reflects the blindness of the aristocracy to the burgeoning social inequalities that would soon erupt in revolution. Fragonard's work invites us to consider the intersections of pleasure, privilege, and the precariousness of social structures, revealing that even in moments of play, the dynamics of power are at work.