Paris Street; Rainy Day
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''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' () is a large 1877 oil painting by the French artist
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 Realism (arts), realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was kno ...
(1848–1894), and is his best known work.Hagen, 624 It shows a number of individuals walking through the Place de Dublin, then known as the Carrefour de Moscou, at an intersection to the east of the
Gare Saint-Lazare The Gare Saint-Lazare (; ), officially Paris Saint Lazare, is one of the seven large mainline List of Paris railway stations, railway station terminals in Paris, France. It was the first railway station built in Paris, opening in 1837. It mostly ...
in north Paris. Although Caillebotte was a friend and patron of many of the impressionist painters, and this work is part of that school, it differs in its realism and reliance on line rather than broad brush strokes. Caillebotte's interest in photography is evident. The figures in the foreground appear "out of focus", those in the mid-distance (the carriage and the pedestrians in the intersection) have sharp edges, while the features in the background become progressively indistinct. The severe cropping of some figures – particularly the man to the far right – further suggests the influence of photography.Paris Street; Rainy Day
.
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
. Retrieved 27 December 2022
The painting was first shown at the Third
Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
Exhibition of 1877. It is currently owned by the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
. Art curator Gloria Groom described the work as "the great picture of urban life in the late 19th century."


Description

The tone of the light indicates that the painting is set on a wintery afternoon,Weinber, 174 and the two main figures walk underneath an umbrella. They are dressed in the height of contemporary Parisian fashion. She wears a hat, veil, diamond earring, demure brown dress, and a fur lined coat, described in 1877 as "modern – or should I say, the latest fashion". The man wears a moustache, topcoat,
frock coat A frock coat is a formal wear, formal men's coat (clothing), coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian era, Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). ...
,Hagen, 627 top hat, bow tie, starched white shirt, buttoned waistcoat and an open long coat with collar turned up. They are unambiguously middle class. Some working class figures may be seen in the background; a maid in a doorway, the decorator carrying a ladder, cut-off by the umbrella above him.Hagen, 626Broude, 19 Caillebotte juxtaposes the figures and the perspective in a playful manner, with one man appearing to jump from the wheel of a carriage; another pair of legs appear below the rim of an umbrella. The painting does not present a convivial mood. The figures seem mostly isolated, and their expressions are largely downcast. They appear to hurry rather than stroll through the streets, absorbed in their own thoughts. The umbrellas shield them, in the words of Rose-Marie Hagen, "not just from the rain, but, also it seems, from other passers by". Characteristic of the positioning of the figures, the heads and eyes of the main couple are faced away from the man approaching them from their right. Hagen believes that given their close quarters, they will both be unable to comfortably step out of the man's way, but also their averted gaze applies equally to the viewer, who looks from a perspective equal to us.Hagen, 625 Caillebotte reproduces the effect of a camera lens in that the points at the center of the image seem to bulge. He also recreates the focusing effect of the camera in the way that it sharpens certain subjects of an image, but not others. The same purpose is seen in the overall clarity of the image. The foreground is in focus, but slightly smudged; the middle ground has sharp, clear edges and well defined subjects, and the background fades into the distance, becoming more and more blurry the farther back the eye travels. He makes the middle ground section more clear, mimicking the effect of a camera. The figures appear to have walked into the painting, as though Caillebotte was taking a snapshot of people going about their day; in fact, he spent months carefully placing them within the pictorial space. The painting is highly linear;Broude, 18 its focus draws the viewer's eye to the vantage point at the center of the buildings in the background. The strong vertical of the central green lamp post divides the painting; a horizontal alignment breaks the painting into quarters; the gaslight at the center of the picture throws shadows on the wet cobblestones, and divides the composition in two. Cobblestones dominate one full quarter of the canvas.


Setting

''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' gives a view from the eastern side of the , looking north toward the Place de Dublin. The neoclassical buildings reflect the construction works of
Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
. The view shown is spacious, and details a broad view of a number of streets. Although the
ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
facades of the buildings might today seem uniform, at the time they would have been modern and fresh – in Caillebotte's youth the area was a hill just beyond the city edge just beginning to be developed as a residential center for the
bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...
.Hagen, 625 Three roads are visible on the northern side of the square: the (left), the (center), and a continuation of the rue de Turin (right), which runs from the foreground and into the background. The square is crossed by the , suggested by the line of the buildings to the left and a break in the buildings to the right.Hagen, 625 The point of view of the roads and the buildings portrayed allows Caillebotte to use
two-point perspective Linear or point-projection perspective () is one of two types of graphical projection perspective in the graphic arts; the other is parallel projection. Linear perspective is an approximate representation, generally on a flat surface, of ...
. The ground floor of the building between the Rue de Moscou and the Rue Clapeyron, showing a 'pharmacie' sign in the painting, still houses a pharmacy today.


Reception and provenance

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
, often a critic of Caillebotte, praised this work in an article "Notes parisiennes: Une exposition: les peintres impressionnistes" published in ''Le Sémaphore de Marseille'' in 1877. As with many of Caillebotte's paintings, it remained with the family until the mid twentieth century. It was acquired by Walter P. Chrysler Jr. in 1955, who in turn sold it to the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
in 1964.Paris Street; Rainy Day1877
Google Art Project
The painting was featured in the 1980 BBC television series '' 100 Great Paintings'', and ''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' plays a prominent role in the 1986 film ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American Teen film, teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes (filmmaker), John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jenn ...
''. The painting is featured in the photograph '' Art Institute of Chicago II, Chicago'' (1990), by German photographer Thomas Struth, which depicts the room where it was exhibited at the time, with some onlookers.


Gallery

File:Straße in Paris bei Regen (Vorzeichnung).jpg, Sketch File:Paris Street; Rainy Day.jpg, Gallery display, Art Institute of Chicago


See also

* List of paintings by Gustave Caillebotte


References


Sources

* Broude, Norma. ''Gustave Caillebotte and the Fashioning of Identity in Impressionist Paris''. Rutgers University Press, 2002. * Hagen, Rose-Marie. ''Masterpieces in Detail''. London: Taschen, 2010. * Weinberg, Helene Barbara. ''American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885–1915''. New York: Metropolitan Museum Of Art, 1994.


External links


''Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877''
one of the Art Institute of Chicago'
digital scholarly catalogues

Caillebotte ''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' Returns
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

Gustave Caillebotte's ''Paris Street; Rainy Day''
(4:44)
Smarthistory Smarthistory is a free resource for the study of art history created by art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. Smarthistory is an independent not-for-profit organization and the official partner of the Khan Academy for art history. It is ...

Video Postcard: ''Paris Street; Rainy Day'' (1877)
(1:47)
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
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