An illustrated biography of Gustave Caillebotte, with previously unpublished archive material
Published to accompany the Gustave Caillebotte, Painting Men exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, from 8 October, 2024, to 19 January, 2025, and at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles from 25 February to 25 May 2025 and at the Art Institute of Chicago from 22 June to 5 October 2025
The life of Gustave Caillebotte is shrouded in legend – untimely death, hidden genius, generous patron of Monet, Pissaro, Sisley and Degas – making him one of the most appreciated and mysterious painters of the Impressionist movement. This biography, written by a descendant of the painter, journalist and producer of programs on France Culture, is illustrated with numerous previously unpublished photographic documents. It takes a detailed look at Gustave Caillebotte’s history and career, placing his pictorial work in the context of his family, social and economic environment, for the life of Gustave Caillebotte is above all a lesson in history and geography, that of the Parisian bourgeoisie under the Third Reich and the blossoming of the Impressionist movement in the Ile-de-France region. The biography describes Gustave’s father Martial Caillebotte’s meteoric rise in the textile industry, his education and pictorial training in Bonnat’s studio and at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, his participation in the 1870 war at the age of 22, and his decisive encounter with the Impressionist group, led by Renoir, Monet and Degas. Thanks in particular to family archives, the book revisits Caillebotte’s decisive role in the diffusion of the movement, including the organisation of the group’s third exhibition, as well as the genesis and presentation of his own works, including the famous Raboteur.
Text in English and French.