Honoré Daumier

The proof that a caricature could frighten a king. Daumier drew for Charles Philipon's La Caricature, and his drawing of Louis-Philippe as the gluttonous giant Gargantua so offended the king that Daumier was prosecuted and sentenced to six months in prison, which he began serving in August 1832. When La Caricature was forced to stop in 1835, Philipon's team carried on at Le Charivari and steered clear of the king, and Daumier's commentary widened to French social and political life as a whole. He left more than 4,000 lithographs, with heavy, sculptural figures, and graphic artists are still learning from him; Van Gogh was among those he inspired.