''Young Man at His Window'' (French: ''Jeune homme à sa fenêtre'') is a painting of 1876 by the French Impressionist

Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...

(1848–1894). The oil on canvas painting measures . It is in the collection of the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

.https://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/9697-getty-museum-acquires-gustave-caillebotte%E2%80%99s-iconic-young-man-at-h#:~:text=Getty%20Museum%20Acquires%20Gustave%20Caillebotte%E2%80%99s%20Iconic%20%27Young%20Man%20at%20His%20Window%27%20at%20Auction, Artfixdaily 11-11-2021
/ref>

Description

The painting depicts the artist's brother, René Caillebotte, wearing informal clothes and standing at a balcony. He is standing at a window from the family home in the Rue de Miromesnil in Paris, looking outwards into

Boulevard Malesherbes Boulevard Malesherbes is a boulevard in central Paris, France, running northwest between the Church of the Madeleine in the 8th arrondissement, and the Porte d'Asnières in the 17th arrondissement. It is one of the streets created during the ...

(the large, oblique cross-street in the background). It is a comparatively early work in Caillebotte's oeuvre and reveals his interest in urban

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

. In its theme of a figure seen from behind at an open window, the composition has precedents in German Romanticism, a notable example being Caspar David Friedrich's '' Woman at the Window'' (1822). Other examples include '' Goethe at the Window'' (1787) by Johann Heinrich Tischbein and ''The Morning Hour'' (1857–60) by

Moritz von Schwind 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860. Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and the songs of the people. Schwind ...

. Caillebotte's painting differs from his German antecedents in several ways, however. The man does not gaze upon nature, but rather looks out upon an urban scene. According to the art historian

Kirk Varnedoe John Kirk Train Varnedoe (January 18, 1946 – August 14, 2003) was an American art historian, the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from 1988 to 2001, Professor of the History of Art at the Institute for Advance ...

, "a standard charm of the window view is our bemused curiosity as to what the observer is looking at; but Caillebotte's structure replaces this curiosity with something quite different." By placing the onlooking man off-center and depicting him from a somewhat elevated viewpoint, Caillebotte's painting creates a tense relationship between the dominant foreground figure, the emphatic perspectival diagonals, and the detailed street scene beyond. Varnedoe says "the normal interior-exterior oppositions of the window are thus combined in a charged relationship, competitive or covalent, that is seemingly unprecedented". Caillebotte presented this painting at the Impressionism exhibition of 1876 alongside a few of his other works, including ''

Les raboteurs de parquet ''Les raboteurs de parquet'' (English title: ''The Floor Scrapers'') is an oil painting by French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. The canvas measures . It was originally given by Caillebotte's family in 1894 to the Musée du Luxembourg, the ...

''. Writer

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

was impressed with technical achievement of the works, but was not enthusiastic about the style: "Photography of reality which is not stamped with the original seal of the painter's talent—that's a pitiful thing." He called the painting "anti-artistic... because of the exactitude of the copying." File:GoetheAmFensterSeinerRoemischenWohnungAquarellvonJohannHeinrichTischbeinS104.jpg, Johann Heinrich Tischbein, '' Goethe at the Window'', 1787 File:Caspar David Friedrich - Frau am Fenster - Google Art Project.jpg, Caspar David Friedrich, '' Woman at a Window'', 1822 File:Moritz von Schwind - Early Morning - WGA21075.jpg,

, ''Early Morning'', 1858

Notes

References

* * * {{Gustave Caillebotte Paintings by Gustave Caillebotte Paintings in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum 1876 paintings