In a new district of Paris, rain-slicked cobblestones glisten as fashionable citizens pass under their umbrellas. With an almost photographic precision of composition, Caillebotte captured the elegance and detachment of modern Paris after Haussmann's renovation.
Key facts
- Artist
- Gustave Caillebotte1848–1894 · French
- Date
- 1877
- Period
- Impressionism1860–1890
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 212.2 × 276.2 cm
- Location
- Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, United States
Actual size
Compared with an adult 170 cm tall
Palette
#B8B7AC#837F79#A09D93#E1DDCC#33332CBackground
Between 1850 and 1870 Baron Haussmann, on the orders of Napoleon III, transformed Paris, replacing narrow medieval streets with broad boulevards and uniform apartment buildings. The painting shows a newly built intersection near the Gare Saint-Lazare, now the Place de Dublin.
Caillebotte came from a wealthy family and grew up in this neighbourhood. The painting was shown at the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877, one of the largest works on view.
Technique & composition
Unlike other Impressionists, Caillebotte painted with smooth, careful brushwork and crisp contours, closer to academic realism. But his composition is radically modern: splits the canvas in two, and figures in the foreground are cut off by the frame, as in a photograph.
The streets recede in steep perspective, and points deep into the picture. in front, wet with rain, reflect the sky, each stone sharp near us and blurring into the distance, imitating the focus of the eye or a camera lens.
Details
Symbolism
Urban alienation
The pedestrians go their own ways without any interaction; even look in different directions. The painting captures a defining quality of modern city life: crowded, yet isolated.
The order of the new Paris
Wide streets, uniform buildings and well-dressed pedestrians display the rational order of Haussmann's Paris and the elegant life of its bourgeoisie.
Stories
- Did you know?
At a man is cut in half, as if about to walk into the picture and brush past the couple. This bold cropping was inspired by photography and Japanese prints.
- Did you know?
Caillebotte's own paintings were long neglected after his death and only re-evaluated in the 1970s. The Art Institute of Chicago bought this work in 1964, and it is now one of the museum's most popular paintings.
Legacy
Paris Street; Rainy Day is one of the defining images of the modern city. Its composition and mood influenced later street photography and cinema, and it has been called a portrait of modern life.
