Honoré Daumier at the Royal Academy

The Royal Academy’s Visions of Paris is the UK exhibition on satirical French painter and caricaturist Honoré Daumier to date. The show is a survey of the artist’s responses to the dramatic socio-political changes that unfolded in Paris during the 19th century. Expect a darkly funny, unshrinking take on gritty city life amid violent upheaval, widespread prostitution and rife disease.

Visions of Paris exhibits an unprecedented 130 of Daumier’s famous lithographs and sculptures from 1830 - 1879, many of which are on show for the first time. Displayed in broad chronological order, the exhibition tours the development of the French national identity as we have come to understand it today, as seen through Daumier’s unforgiving eye. And unforgiving he certainly was: so searingly satirical were his take-downs of the blundering politicians and bourgeoisie of his day, that one cartoon depicting  King Louis Philippe as Gargantua was enough to land him in prison in 1832.

Better known in his lifetime for his 5000 lithographic cartoons and woodcuts than his paintings, his famous circa-1867 drawing Clown Playing A Drum is one you should look out for. It was first displayed the year before Daumier’s death,when the artist was already half blind, and its depiction of an elderly street performer, ignored by passers-by in a busy street scene, has often been read as a self-caricature.

The RA, with its grandiose Neo-Classical features and bustling central London location, offers a beautiful complement to the subject-matter of Damier’s work, and therefore a viewing experience like no other. Curated by renowned former Whitechapel Gallery director Catherine Lampert, alongside Ann Dumas – curator of the RA’s wonderful 2009 Van Gogh exhibition, we’re expecting great things indeed.

Tickets price: £10, Concs: £6-9