Inspired by: Gustave Caillebotte - Paris Street; Rainy Day
This painting depicts the aftermath of Baron Haussmann’s controversial plan to renovate Paris. His wide boulevards replaced many of the beloved buildings of the city. Caillebotte was in the camp of those who hated his plan, and what it would do to the Parisians. The scene is a grey rainy day, the colors almost monochromatic, which instills a glum feeling in his figures. The canvas is monumental, almost eight feet across, which allows you to study the individual characters. and some are quite whimsical. Two legs of a man appear under an umbrella, there is a man carrying a ladder through the streets, and a woman who is opening an umbrella which seems to be shoved it into the head of the main character. Caillebotte was very wealthy. His father made a fortune supplying Napoleon's army with uniforms, and Gustave inherited that fortune at age 26. He was a close friend of many of the Impressionists, and funded and curated their exhibitions. He loaned them money (in fact, he paid the rent on Monet's studio for a while.) Most importantly, he bought their paintings for top dollar, amassing a collection of more than seventy works of Impressionist friends. His death at the young age of forty-five brought an abrupt end to an evolving career. He donated his Impressionist paintings as well as many of his own to the French State. The bequest specified that all the works should be displayed in the Louvre Museum. This was somewhat problematic, as his art was still not accepted widely by the mainstream artistic establishment.
To see original: https://bit.ly/4bw3KlE