Paris Street; Rainy Day

1877

Oil on canvas, 212.2 × 276.2 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

Life-size Parisians cross a wet, newly built intersection near the Gare Saint-Lazare. It is Caillebotte's most ambitious picture of the rebuilt city and dominated the 1877 Impressionist exhibition.

The streets themselves, newly cut through an old quarter under Haussmann's plan, are the subject. Taking the changing city of the moment as material for a major picture was central to Impressionism.
Shown as no. 1 at the third Impressionist exhibition, which Caillebotte largely organized.
Its finish, perspective and size suited Salon taste; its lopsided layout and cropped figures were new.
Look at the green lamppost splitting the scene and the man cut off at right.
Sold by the Caillebotte family in 1954; bought by the Art Institute in 1964.

The figures wear the newest styles of 1877, and their umbrellas were a recent design. Caillebotte, son of a wealthy family, painted the well-dressed middle class.

Image: Art Institute of Chicago Open Access (CC0) · Public domain