Caillebotte

L'Yerres,effect de pluie - 1875
(literally: effect of rain); aka River bank in rain
Oil on canvas. 81 x 59 cm
Indiana University Art Museum

An important French Impressionist, Gustave Caillebotte played a unique role within the Impressionist circle. The recipient of a large inheritance, he organized exhibitions and gave financial assistance to his Impressionist friends by purchasing many of their paintings. He was also an extremely inventive artist, developing a personal style characterized by a distinctive sense of space, perspective, and composition. With its formally structured, three-part composition and high horizon line, "Yerres, Effect of Rain," painted at his family’s home in the countryside, shows the influence of Japanese woodblock prints, which were avidly collected by French artists in the late nineteenth century.

The Floor-Scrapers, 1875
Oil on canvas - 40 x 57 3/4" (102 x 146.5 cm)
Musee d'Orsay, Paris





This painting is one of the first representations of urban proletariat. Whereas peasants (Gleaners by Millet) or country workers (Stone Breakers by Courbet) had often been shown, city workers had seldom been painted. Unlike Courbet or Millet, Caillebotte does not incorporate any social, moralising or political message in his work. His thorough documentary study (gestures, tools, accessories) justifies his position among the most accomplished realists.


















Jeune homme à sa fenêtre, 1876.
Young man at his window.
huile sur toile; oil on canvas.





The Pont de l'Europe, 1876
Oil on canvas - 54 x 73 cm
Private property. Courtesy Comité Gustave Caillebotte, Paris



















In a Cafè
114 x 153 cms / 44.9 x 60.2 inches - Oil on Canvas
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France
Photo Credit: AKG Images
Image ID: 2-M180-A2-1880-4
Year of Composition: 1880

What is fascinating about this work is the use of mirrors. In the book, Varnedoe diagrams the site. Caillebotte is placed to the right and in front of the man with the derby (southwest); to the front and right of the derby man is a second mirror, behind the card players; the window over the shoulder of the card player we see is "actually a reflection in mirror behind them."