It’s safe to say that Gustave Caillebote’s “Paris Street, Rainy Day” is one of the most easy recognisable paintings of the 19th Century France. The large oil painting is certainly interesting as Gustave tends to show a more pessimistic view on Paris breaking the pattern that the Impressionists have put into place, a pattern that Gustave seems to enjoy breaking. Instead of painting with a loose brush Gustave chooses to go with smaller and much more delicate work which might be mistaken for Neo-Impressionism. Gustave also replaces the energy and speed of the city with a cold silence.
To understand what message Gustave is trying to send, it’s wise to discuss the history of the city at his time. Between the 1850’s and 1860’s Paris was going through …show more content…
Gustave used to be doing well financially, not even needed any income from his paintings. A great deal of artists belonging to the Impressionist movement owe him gratitude since Gustave played a big role in the movement, usually by purchasing the paintings of Renoir and Monet when they were short on income.
Gustave was obviously passionate about photography,that much is apparent from the use of the slightly out of focus elements in the mid distance, the even less detailed elements in the background, the cropping of the man to the far right, and the use of lighting that I’ll discuss in more details shortly.
At first look we realize that our vantage point as viewers is from the sidewalk, facing the main couple. The couple to the right are close, and appear to be getting closer, one could imagine them reaching out of the painting. Gustave used that as to make the message even clearer, since from the viewer’s point of view the couple could be averting their eyes away from us, not from the half cropped man to the far right. The relatively large size of the painting could easily allow for such an …show more content…
The setting in itself is a direct jab against Haussmannization. Judging by the lighting the setting took place on an afternoon in winter. Gustave tried to pivot towards realism as much as possible, and he used the lighting and shadows to show that. Impressionist used to believe that black shadows are dull, and flat so Gustave chose to paint the stones using several colors that end up uniting into the gray color that we see, insuring greater realism. Gustave made heavy use of the colors yellow and blue which is typical considering the habits used by Impressionists and considering the fact that at the time chemical pigments were being produced offering a more effective light palette and cheaper
To understand what message Gustave is trying to send, it’s wise to discuss the history of the city at his time. Between the 1850’s and 1860’s Paris was going through …show more content…
Gustave used to be doing well financially, not even needed any income from his paintings. A great deal of artists belonging to the Impressionist movement owe him gratitude since Gustave played a big role in the movement, usually by purchasing the paintings of Renoir and Monet when they were short on income.
Gustave was obviously passionate about photography,that much is apparent from the use of the slightly out of focus elements in the mid distance, the even less detailed elements in the background, the cropping of the man to the far right, and the use of lighting that I’ll discuss in more details shortly.
At first look we realize that our vantage point as viewers is from the sidewalk, facing the main couple. The couple to the right are close, and appear to be getting closer, one could imagine them reaching out of the painting. Gustave used that as to make the message even clearer, since from the viewer’s point of view the couple could be averting their eyes away from us, not from the half cropped man to the far right. The relatively large size of the painting could easily allow for such an …show more content…
The setting in itself is a direct jab against Haussmannization. Judging by the lighting the setting took place on an afternoon in winter. Gustave tried to pivot towards realism as much as possible, and he used the lighting and shadows to show that. Impressionist used to believe that black shadows are dull, and flat so Gustave chose to paint the stones using several colors that end up uniting into the gray color that we see, insuring greater realism. Gustave made heavy use of the colors yellow and blue which is typical considering the habits used by Impressionists and considering the fact that at the time chemical pigments were being produced offering a more effective light palette and cheaper