The present essay asks about the political power of ridicule through the huge legacy of this caricaturist of modern life. To this end, the historical sense of his satirical images has been traced and an attempt has been made to access the social fabric in which the artist worked daily. For the rest, it will be noticed, between the joy and the resignation, to what extent their lithographs reach to be the truthful mirror of our more immediate actuality. Daumier's serious laughter betrays us all.