Les bulles de savon (Soap Bubbles) — Thomas Couture, ca. 1859

Les bulles de savon (Soap Bubbles), painted by Thomas Couture around 1859, presents a quiet interior moment in which action has already passed. 

A young figure reclines beside a table scattered with books and papers, his attention drifting upward as soap bubbles linger in the air. The title names a simple, transient act, yet the scene itself remains suspended—neither playful nor purposeful, attentive but unoccupied. Created in mid-nineteenth-century France, the work favors observation over gesture, allowing small details to persist without instruction. The original painting is now held in a major museum collection.