His painting style appears to belong to the school of realism, although he helped organize the first impressionist exhibition and enthusiastically collected of impressionist works.
Caillebotte's painting themes were catholic. For example, he painted portraits and interior scenes, urban life, still lifes, and landscapes and seascapes. He often chose an overhead vantage point for his compositions and depicted elegantly dressed figures strolling with the expressionless look of sleep walkers (Boulevard Vu d'en Haut 1880). His metropolitan scenes led editor Anne Distel to title a book about him, "Gustave Caillebotte : Urban Impressionist".
For many years, Caillebotte's reputation as a painter was superseded by his reputation as a supporter of the arts. However, 70 years after his death, art historians began reevaluating his artistic contributions.
Just two years before he died, he married Emilie Schlauch.
Gustave Caillebotte died in 1894 of pulmonary congestion and was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. In his will, Caillebotte donated his entire collection to the French government and 40 of his works hang in the Musee d'Orsay.
His L'Homme au balcon, boulevard Haussmann, painted in 1880, sold for more than $14.3 million in 2000.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caillebotte
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License
| Opposed to Jean-Léon Gérôme
Friend of Claude Monet
Studied under Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat
In connection with Emile Zola, Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro (Camille Pissarro) and Paul Cézanne
|
