Le Jeu De La Grenouille by Paul Charles Chocarne Moreau

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As Paul Moreau is known for his funny paintings portraying little Parisian kids from the late 19^th century, we have enjoyed his oeuvre full of funny anecdotes conducted by small children. On the other hand, his favorite group which appears from time to time in his paintings is the kids from the aristocratic circles – the rich kids which also have their own ways to have a good time on daily basis.

We see in his paintings that kids find the surrounding things as their source of entertainments. The poor kids in his paintings are often using enjoying from the circumstances. On the other hand, as the current picture portrays, rich kids are provided with the facilities and special tools to play.

In the painting, Le Jeu De La Grenouille, the kids are playing a game, which could be translated as “The Frog Game”. You have a table on which there is a set of holes protected by some rings and an artificial frog. You have to throw a puck into those holes and you get the according to which hole you have successfully entered you puck. The hole with a frog on it is the hardest one and you get the highest points for it. The game is simple but if you have got enough enthusiastic friends to play with, anything can be turned into fun activity.

In a building similar to some kind of palace, the kids are playing the game. The game is interesting enough that a worker boy has settled down for a moment to enjoy the game. But, the poor boy is unknown to the fact that another boy is plucking flowers from his flowerpots. Rest of them are just surrounded to see if the player succeeds in the task and could he make the 1000 points when you throw your puck right into the frog’s mouth. But, the pucks on the ground show that it’s quite a difficult task. That’s an excitement which appears when there are many friendly faces are around you and all of you focused on a single amusing, interesting thing.

Furthermore, everyone’s inattention towards the papal attire, gentlemen’s suite and worker’s clothes, simply emphasis that children can be friend with each other without considering the inhuman wealth-generated hierarchy common in the grownups-world.