Theater Audience|Honoré Daumier |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 14 July 2025

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Currently not on display

Honoré Daumier

Marseille, 1808 - Valmondois, 1879

Theater Audience

Date	c. 1856-60
Materials and Techniques	oil on panel
Size（cm）	23.6 x 32.7
Credit Line	Donated by the heirs of Mr. Kojiro Matsukata (ex-Matsukata Collection)
Standard ref.	Maison I-104; M366
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1984-0001

Daumier was deeply fascinated by the world of the theater. He created skillful lithographs and oil paintings of street players, backstage scenes, the bourgeoisie in the audience and scenes on the stage. He created several lithographs during the period 1852-64 that incorporate the motif of peeping out from the dark box seats to the bright stage. He clearly shows the figures' enjoyment and boredom in his lithographs, while in this oil painting he renders the figures in silhouette so that their facial expressions can barely be discerned. A black clothed group is set against the gorgeous background of a front row box in the left front of the scene. The audience is shown only in careful, simple silhouettes. This type of expression reflects Daumier's study of figural poses and facial expressions, and his thorough understanding of social position, character and sentiment. Daumier took up the relatively new subject of modern life through broad-stroked silhouettes, abbreviated details, and his rendering of subtle nuances in a limited palette. His work later exerted considerable influence on Manet and Degas. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.62)

Provenance

Charles-François Daubigny, Paris; Madame Daubigny, Paris; Ambroise Vollard, Paris; A. S. Henraux, Paris; Wilhelm Hansen, Ordrupgaard, near Copenhagen, 1918–1923; purchased from the above by Kojiro Matsukata, Kobe, through Galerie Barbazanges, Paris, 1923, as ‘Spectateurs’ (Fr. 15,000) [see records in the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux, Paris (copy in NMWA curatorial file)]; inherited by his family; deposited in the Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, 13 March 1953–6 April 1984; sale, Sotheby's, New York, 15 May 1984, lot 15A (the sale was cancelled); donated by the heirs of Kojiro Matsukata to NMWA, 6 April 1984.

Exhibition History

1878: Daumier, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 0 1878 - 0 1878, cat. no. 52
1901: Daumier, École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 0 1901 - 0 1901, cat. no. 97
1923: Art Français, Prague, 0 1923 - 0 1923, cat. no. 228
1953: Ex-Matsukata Collection, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo, 24 March 1953 - 10 May 1953, cat. no. 32
1955: 2nd Ex-Matsukata Collection, Bridgestone Gallery, Tokyo, 0 1955 - 0 1955, cat. no. 14
1957: Ex-Matsukata Collection, Ishibashi Art Gallery, Kurume, 9 April 1957 - 28 April 1957, cat. no. 14
1961: Kindai Seiyo Kaiga Meisaku Ten (Masterpieces of Modern European Painting), Ishibashi Art Gallery, Kurume, 0 1961 - 0 1961, cat. no. 13
1962: La peinture française de Corot à Braque dans la Collection Ishibashi de Tokyo, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 0 1962 - 0 1962, cat. no. 15
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection, Kobe City Museum, 14 September 1989 - 26 November 1989, cat. no. 8, col. repr.
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 87
2008: Daumier and the Human Comedy, Itami City Museum of Art, 29 November 2008 - 21 December 2008
2015: NO MUSEUM, NO LIFE?: Art-Museum Encyclopedia to Come: From the Collections of the National Museums of Art, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 16 June 2015 - 13 September 2015, cat. no. B-3
2016: Paintings Go Motion!: Kitayama Seitaro and Artists in the Taisho Era, Tokyo Station Gallery, 17 September 2016 - 6 November 2016, The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, 19 November-15 January 2017, cat. no. 1-37, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey: Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 11 June 2019 - 23 September 2019, cat. no. 128, col. repr.
2022: Dialogues of the Muses: The Paris Opera House and the Arts, Artizon Museum, 5 November 2022 - 5 February 2023, cat. no. 2-64, col. repr.

Bibliography

1918: Madsen, Karl. Wilhelm Hansens Samling. Copenhagen, 1918, no. 27.
1923: Klossowski, Erich. Honoré Daumier. München, 1923, no. 86.
1930: Fuchs, Edouard. Der Maler Daumier. München, 1930, no. 134b.
1954: Adhémar, Jean. Honoré Daumier. Paris, 1954, pl. 102.
1959: Bridgestone Gallery. Tokyo, 1959, no. 20, repr.
1965: Bridgestone Gallery. Tokyo, 1965, no. 14, repr.
1966: Oshima, Seiji. Sekai Bijutsu. Vol. 12. Tokyo, 1966, p. 116.
1968: Maison, Karl Eric. Honoré Daumier: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings. vol. 1. London, 1968, no. I - 104, repr.
1968: Miyata, Shigeo. L'Art du Monde. Corot/Millet. Vol.6, Tokyo, 1968, pl. 68.
1971: Takashina, Shuji. Kindai no Bijutsu. Matsukata Collection. Vol.2, Tokyo, 1971, pl. 91.
1971: Barzini, Luigi and Mandel, Gabriele. L'Opera Pittorica Completa di Daumier. Milano, 1971, no. 143, repr.
1977: Bridgestone Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1977, no. 13.
1988: Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 19 (1984), 1988, Mabuchi, Akiko. New Acquisitions 1984. p. 26, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1984. pp. 96-97, repr.
1989: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 52, repr.
1989: The Old Matsukata Collection (exh. cat.). Kobe City Museum, ed. [Kobe], "Matsukata Collection Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1989, pp. 16, 156-157, cat. no. 8, col. repr.
1990: The Old Matsukata Collection. Kobe City Museum, ed. Kobe, "Matsukata Korekushon Ten" Jikkoiinkai, 1990, cat. no. 526.
1990: Catalogue of painting acquisitions: 1979-1989. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1990, pp. 25-27, repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 62, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 78, col. repr.
2016: Paintings Go Motion!: Kitayama Seitaro and Artists in the Taisho Era (exh. cat.). Aoki, Kanae; Miyamoto, Hisanobu, eds. [Wakayama], The museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, 2016, pp. 78, 307, 334, cat. no. 1-37, co. repr.
2018: The Matsukata Collection: Complete Catalogue of the European Art. Kawaguchi, Masako; Jingaoka, Megumi, eds. vol. 1: Paintings, Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2018, cat. no. 366, col. repr.
2019: The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey (exh. cat.). Jingaoka, Megumi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of the Western Art, Tokyo; Yomiuri Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, 2019, pp. 222, 371, cat. no. 128, col. repr.
2022: Dialogues of the Muses: The Paris Opera House and the Arts (exh. cat.). Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation; Miura, Atsushi, eds. [Tokyo], Artizon Museum, Ishibashi Foundation, 2022, pp. 170, 361, cat. no. 2-64, col. repr.

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