Gustave Caillebotte was born on 19 August 1848 to an upper-class family living in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis. Beginning in 1860, the Caillebotte family began spending many of their summers in Yerres, a town on the Yerres River about 12 miles (20 km) south of Paris, where Martial Caillebotte Sr. (Gustave’s father) had purchased a large property. It probably was around this time that Caillebotte began to draw and paint. In 1868, Caillebotte earned a law degree and practiced law in 1870 and he also was an engineer. Soon after his education, he got drafted to go fight in the Franco-Prussian war.
After the war, Caillebotte began visiting the studio of painter Léon Bonnat, where he began to study painting seriously. Around 1874 Caillebotte met many different artists outside the French academy and he attended (did not participate) the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874.
Caillebotte’s style of painting may be considered of the first movement after Impressionism: Neo-Impressionism. Caillebotte’s style belongs to the School of Realism, but he was strongly influenced by Impressionist associates.
Comparison between Gustave Caillebotte and other artists
Caillebotte painted Paris with much darker color than other artists at his time, like the Impressionists. The Impressionists painted the new or modern Paris with very bright colors that stand out. While Caillebotte often painted the isolation brought by all the changes of Paris. Regular Impressionists painted with open or loose brushwork while Caillebotte painted in a three dimensional form. Gustave Caillebotte painted so differently perhaps because of his close relationship with so many of peers.
Impression, Sunrise Paris Street: Rainy Day
This is one of Monet’s most famous Gustave Caillebotte’s painting
paintings. It describes work of open brush- shows excellent work of 3-D
work. form.
Why did Caillebotte paint so differently than his contemporaries?
He wanted to use natural lights and make his paintings look as real as possible. And he used different techniques in his paintings than other artists.
In this painting you can see it is so realistic to the
light to the shadow and the environment around
the people.
He also had interest in photography so in his paintings he wanted to focus on one thing and leave the other things unattended. For example Paris Street: Rainy Day looks so much like a photograph.
He focused on the main subject of the painting (the couple)
The things that are farther are not really sharp just like you would see in a camera
Unlike other artists Caillebotte’s paintings include several genres or subjects. Gustave Caillebotte didn’t have to make a living out of painting and sell it to other people, he just wanted to paint by heart and whatever he thought of.