Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894) was a French painter, collector, and patron who played a crucial role in supporting and shaping the Impressionist movement. Although he was independently wealthy, which allowed him to fund the early Impressionist exhibitions and purchase works from his struggling friends, he was also a highly skilled artist in his own right.
Caillebotte participated in five of the eight original Impressionist exhibitions, often contributing large-scale, ambitious works that stood out for their technical precision and uniquely modern perspective.
Style and Subject Matter
Caillebotte’s style bridges the gap between the detailed realism of the academic tradition and the subject matter of Impressionism.
Modern Cityscapes: He is best known for his large canvases depicting the Haussmannian boulevards of Paris. These works capture the sleek, impersonal nature of the newly renovated city, often using dramatic, plunging perspectives that feel almost photographic. His most famous work, Paris Street; Rainy Day, perfectly illustrates this blend of rigid geometry with the fleeting atmosphere of light and rain.
Intimate Interiors: Unlike Monet, who focused on outdoor light, Caillebotte frequently painted interior scenes showing middle-class life—figures looking out windows, or engaged in domestic tasks like his famous work, The Floor Scrapers. These paintings capture the sense of isolation and observation that defined life in the rapidly modernizing city.
Unusual Angles: Caillebotte's compositions often use high vantage points, unusual cropping, and asymmetrical balance, drawing heavily on the influence of photography and Japanese prints. This gave his works a crisp, immediate, and unsettlingly modern feeling.
Caillebotte’s legacy is twofold: he was a skilled painter who brought a distinct, urban modernity to the Impressionist palette, and he was the selfless patron who financially secured the legacy of his fellow Impressionists.
