# Poll - What emotion do you see on this face? (detail from famous painting) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** arts-crafts\ **Created:** [September 7, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748 "2023-09-07T20:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/41 "2023-09-07T23:40:52Z")
Now that the OP has told us about the entire painting, we could have a lot of fun dissecting the meanings and differences between the expressions of the several participants. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/42 "2023-09-08T00:03:16Z")
I was the one who linked it in the other thread, so didn’t vote here, but I thought @Munch , @Cervaise and @The_Other_Waldo_Pepper all came the closest. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/43 "2023-09-08T00:06:19Z")
I linked it in this thread: > [@What happens if Trump is indicted in Georgia? (Indicted on August 14, 2023)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-trump-is-indicted-in-georgia-indicted-on-august-14-2023/979928/1344): > > So, a Georgia version of The Cossacks are Writing a Letter to the Sultan? (As an aside, there were a fair number of people of Ukrainian descent in the little town I grew up in, on the Prairies. My overall impression was that they were good folk, give you the shirt off their backs, fun to be with; but don’t ever, ever, get in a fight with them. This painting fit that impression.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/44 "2023-09-08T00:10:33Z")
I picked “cruelty” as the closest of the available choice, but I think some of the other posters described it better: > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > “a shifty bastard looking to get away with something.” > [@LSLGuy](#): > > It’s happy anticipation of something bad about to happen to somebody else. > [@Riemann](#): > > I see a sneer of contempt. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > He looks like he’s plotting something and feeling really good about it. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/45 "2023-09-08T01:26:29Z")
This thread led me to this article. > **[To Putin, The Sultan Of The Kremlin - The American Conservative](https://www.theamericanconservative.com/zaporozhian-cossacks-to-putin-the-sultan-of-the-kremlin/)** > > Ukrainian soldiers, in a Zaporozhian Cossack mood, mock the Russian president hilariously ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/46 "2023-09-08T01:30:24Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’d say it’s an _enthusiastically pugnacious_ anticipation — you know, like Popeye, or a guy at the end of the bar cheerfully asking you if you want to repeat that to his face. This plus suspicion were my answers. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/47 "2023-09-08T01:46:47Z")
Given that as of this moment 52 Dopers voted 93 times, and that no expression has more than 34% of the vote, I think the results prove that we just aren’t that good at reading facial expressions. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/48 "2023-09-08T01:56:28Z")
Or maybe that the artist failed if he tried to depict a particular emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/49 "2023-09-08T01:57:50Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I picked “cruelty” as the closest of the available choice My vote was “Amusement” + “Other (Anticipation)”, but I think you’re closer to the mark with Cruelty/Other. There’s a lot of glee associated with cruelty, and I think that’s what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/50 "2023-09-08T02:10:09Z")
Ha, I remembered this guy and this painting because I looked it up after hearing a great exchange on the show _Letters Live_. It’s a brilliant piece. It’s Peter Capaldi and Matt Berry reading those two letters from the Sultan and the Cossacks. [Here’s the piece](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW8OlXkjVHs). I’m going to watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/51 "2023-09-08T03:31:40Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Or maybe that the artist failed if he tried to depict a particular emotion. I think, based on the responses, that the artist nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/52 "2023-09-08T05:26:20Z")
I had clicked amusement and anger but the full sense is amusement at someone who is arrogantly thinking they have bested him and the thought of “oh your poor schmuck, you have no idea the lesson you are about to learn” and relishing the teaching of it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/53 "2023-09-08T12:13:47Z")
Mischievous anticipation. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/54 "2023-09-08T12:19:23Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > He looks like he’s plotting something and feeling really good about it. I voted “suspicious” and “pensive” and the above is more-or-less what I meant by picking those two words. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/55 "2023-09-08T12:27:53Z")
It’s complex: he has a furrowed brow, a wry smile and is giving side-eye. Plus the casual-ness of still having his pipe in his mouth. In real life, you wouldn’t know for sure either, but your first instinct would be to glance in the direction he’s looking. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/56 "2023-09-08T12:30:05Z")
Greedy ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/57 "2023-09-08T12:43:59Z")
And that context matters a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/58 "2023-09-08T13:00:58Z")
I love that the artist used friends and acquaintances as models for the painting. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/59 "2023-09-08T13:43:34Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Looking at the Wikipedia article, this person is called “The Smiling Soldier.” > > I cannot resolve that expression into a smile. My feeling is he’s trying to suppress a smile by holding on to his pipe very firmly with his lips, but he’s not quite succeeding. That’s why I voted for both amusement and cruelty. He wants to smile, but he doesn’t want to give away that he’s about to trounce you. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748/60 "2023-09-08T19:37:56Z")
That’s really it, I think. If he was involved in wording the Reply, then he’s more than likely imagining just how much those words will piss off the Sultan with a sort of amusement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-emotion-do-you-see-on-this-face-detail-from-famous-painting/989748.md?page=4)