Gustave Caillebotte
1848-1894
Unusual perspectives and compositions are surprising in Caillebotte's pictures, who was born in Paris on August 19, 1848. The wealthy engineer had only studied for a brief period at the École des Beaux-Arts and preferred to learn from his artist friends. As a great patron of the Impressionists, he was particularly connected by his friendship with Monet and Renoir. Initially, working people were still the focus of his work. But the engineer was particularly fascinated by modern technology, and so he became a painter of a rapidly changing world.
Strongly influenced by photography, his pictures are often characterised by backlit depictions. The daring details and the often-unbiased approach to a subject draw the viewer directly into the picture.
He helped his artist friends overcome their distress by buying their pictures so that when he died on February 21, 1894, he possessed 67 Impressionist paintings at his country estate in Petit Gennevilliers near Paris. He bequeathed these works to the Louvre.
