Perhaps his greatest contribution to modern art was his ability to capture even the simplest moments in life and infuse them with emotion. Many of his works confronted the complex social, political, and economic consequences of the turmoil. He lived in Paris during a period of political and social unrest, which included two revolutions as well as frequent regime changes, a war, and a siege.
Daumier pioneered a style of Realism that focused on people of all echelons of society and spared few, with the exception of the working class and the poor, from his sharp wit and scrutinizing eye. Daumier's caricatures stand out as his most successful works, yet he remains unrecognized for the impressive diversity of his art as he produced not only the lithographs for which he is famous but also drawings, oil and watercolor paintings, and sculpture. The witty caricatures of Honoré Daumier made him one of the most widely recognized social and political commentators of his day and even landed him in jail for insulting the reigning monarch.
