A centaur in a blaze of red rears up from a thicket of midnight green, arm outstretched, eyes fixed in longing delight on a pale, classical bust that floats above the foliage. The centaur’s hand, almost trembling with anticipation, reaches not for a weapon or a lyre, but for a delicate cup—offered by the marble muse herself. The poster’s drama is all in this moment: the mythic beast, wild and untamed, drawn upward by the promise of taste, the pleasures of civilization distilled into a single sip.

The bold palette electrifies the scene, the centaur’s fiery body cutting through the cool, swirling shadows, while the bust’s serene smile hints at secrets shared only with those who dare to reach. Created in 1906 by Leonetto Cappiello, this work belongs to the golden age of the advertising poster, when Parisian boulevards became open-air galleries and artists competed to arrest the gaze of passersby. Commissioned to tempt with the delights of Compañía Colonial’s chocolates, coffees, and teas, such posters were designed to be impossible to ignore—hence the centaur, a creature of appetite and legend, here transformed into an ambassador of indulgence. Printed by Vercasson & cie in Paris, this piece now resides in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a survivor of a time when commerce and fantasy met on every city wall.

Look again at the centaur’s face: in that flash of yearning, the world of myth and the world of modern taste collide.