Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) remains a singular figure in 19th-century French art, simultaneously an innovative painter, enlightened patron of the Impressionist movement. Heir to a family fortune built in military textile commerce, this financial independence allowed him to develop a free and audacious body of work, marked by urban realism of striking modernity. Rejected at the 1875 Salon with his famous “Floor Scrapers,” he joined the Impressionist circle in 1876, actively participating in their exhibitions while financing and organizing these crucial manifestations of modern art. His pictorial genius lies in the invention of revolutionary perspectives—notably the “bird’s-eye view”—and in his unique ability to capture the psychology of Parisian modernity, from bourgeois ennui to Haussmannian transformations. A visionary collector, he bequeathed to the French State an exceptional ensemble of Impressionist works that today forms the core of national collections. Long overshadowed by his role as patron, Caillebotte is now recognized as a master in his own right, a precursor of modern realism and privileged witness to the mutations of his era.

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