"If you are not aristocratic, it is useless for me to show you this apartment that I rent only to titled persons." 1858

Editor: This lithograph by Honoré Daumier, "If you are not aristocratic, it is useless for me to show you this apartment that I rent only to titled persons," feels incredibly pointed. What’s the significance of this interaction between the porter and the potential renter? Curator: Daumier's work captures a very specific tension in 19th-century Paris, that enduring power of the aristocracy. Notice how the porter's gate becomes a symbolic barrier, a filter, reinforcing social hierarchies. What emotions do you think Daumier wanted to evoke in his audience? Editor: Discomfort, certainly. The porter's dismissive gaze and the woman's hopeful expression create a palpable sense of injustice. Curator: Exactly. Daumier uses these visual cues to criticize the persistence of class privilege. It's a timeless commentary on social exclusion. Editor: I see it now – the image really holds a mirror up to society, then and now. Curator: Indeed, and it invites us to reflect on what symbols of exclusion endure today.