# The Irritating Gentleman Berthold Woltze's 1874 oil painting of a weeping woman in black being pestered by a grinning stranger on a train resurfaced online in October 2012 through the Tumblr blog fleurdulys, where it drew more than 177,000 notes. Reposts on Reddit and Twitter followed, and by January 2018 the painting, known as The Irritating Gentleman, was being used as a reaction image to mock men lecturing women online. ## Origin The Irritating Gentleman was painted by German artist Berthold Woltze in 1874, showing a train-car scene in which a man leans toward a crying woman dressed in black[2]. The work entered wide online circulation on October 22, 2012, when it appeared on the Tumblr blog fleurdulys and collected more than 177,000 notes[1]. In reblogs, user werelesbian edited the image with a #FML caption on the woman, an early sign of the modern reading that would take hold years later[3]. - **Platform:** Tumblr (viral spread) / Twitter (reaction image use) - **Creator:** Berthold Woltze (painter, 1874); earliest viral online post by Tumblr user fleurdulys - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview Posts using the painting typically write a caption for what the smirking stranger might be saying, with the crying woman's direct look at the viewer carrying the punchline[1]. The jokes tend to target mansplaining, awkward flirting, and any flavor of unwanted conversation, and reblogs on the original 2012 Tumblr post noted that the exchange felt painfully familiar more than a century later[1]. In Reddit comment threads, viewers often note that the woman is probably in mourning, judging by her black dress and tears, which makes the stranger's cheerful intrusion read as even more oblivious[4]. That mourning subtext became part of the standard online reading of The Irritating Gentleman and shows up in captions that write the man as upbeat or self-absorbed while the woman grieves. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is The Irritating Gentleman? It is a reaction image built from Berthold Woltze's 1874 oil painting of a crying woman being approached by a smirking man on a train, used online since 2012 to mock unwanted lectures and flirting[2]. ### Where did The Irritating Gentleman come from? The painting dates to 1874, and it went viral online when Tumblr blog fleurdulys posted it on October 22, 2012, where it drew more than 177,000 notes[1]. ### What does The Irritating Gentleman mean? Online users read the image as a mansplaining tableau, though Reddit commenters often point out the woman's black dress suggests she is in mourning, which makes the man's intrusion especially tone-deaf[4]. ### How do you use The Irritating Gentleman? Posts typically caption the man with something patronizing he might be saying, while the woman's stare at the viewer carries the punchline, as seen in reblogs of the fleurdulys Tumblr post[1]. ### Is The Irritating Gentleman still popular? The image saw frequent use through 2018 as a Twitter reaction, with posts by accounts like @AlistairColeman mocking men who correct women online[3]. ## References 1. [http://fleurdulys.tumblr.com/post/34089436530/the-irritating-gentleman-berthold-woltze-1874]() 2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/Art/comments/4yi24u/the_irritating_gentleman_berthold_woltze_oil_on/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-irritating-gentleman]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/justneckbeardthings/comments/2jc3rl/the_irritating_gentleman_by_berthold_woltze_xpost/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/the-irritating-gentleman Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library