Paris Street; Rainy Day
Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894)
1877
View the original$24
Type
Size · in
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
This monumental painting is Gustave Caillebotte’s largest, most ambitious work and has been a visitor favorite since the Art Institute acquired it in 1964, well before the artist’s contributions to the Impressionist movement were widely recognized. Caillebotte captured a busy intersection of Paris that was only a short walk from his home. In fact, his paintings of Paris rarely depict areas beyond his familiar neighborhoods.
Caillebotte demonstrated his affinity with the Impressionists through his subject of modern urban life but approached these settings with a more Realist technique. The dramatic cropping of the scene may have been inspired by the newly popularized medium of photography; the two central figures seem to be walking straight into the viewer as something captures their attention outside of the frame. At the time, artists rarely attempted to depict people in motion; Caillebotte carefully placed each of the background figures to evoke the feeling of bustling city streets. When he started exhibiting with the Impressionists, Caillebotte also focused on portraying the atmosphere of his scenes; here, instead of explicitly painting raindrops to indicate the weather, he suggests it through the incorporation of newly available retractable umbrellas and the subtle reflections on the wet cobblestones.
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 212.2 × 276.2 cm (83 1/2 × 108 3/4 in.)
Museum record · 2 owners · 16 exhibitions
Provenance
- The artist (died 1894); by descent to Martial Caillebotte (brother) and Marie Minoret (Martial’s wife), Paris, 1894; placed with Georges Minoret (brother-in-law of Martial Caillebotte), Château de Montglat, Provins, France, 1900.
- Returned to Albert and Geneviève Chardeau (daughter of Martial Caillebotte), Paris, 1950; sold to Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York, 1954; sold to Wildenstein and Company, 1964; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1964.
Exhibitions
- Paris, 6, rue le Peletier, 3e exposition de peinture, Apr. 1877, as Rue de Paris; Temps de pluie.
- Paris, Durand-Ruel, Exposition rétrospective d’oeuvres de G. Caillebotte, June 4–16, 1894.
- Paris, Galerie Beaux-Arts, Rétrospective Gustave Caillebotte, May 25–July 25, 1951.
- Portland (Ore.) Art Museum, Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Mar. 2–Apr. 15, 1956; Seattle Art Museum, Apr. 27–May 27, 1956; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, opened June 11, 1956; Los Angeles County Museum, July 27–Aug. 26, 1956; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Sept. 7–Oct. 9, 1956; City Art Museum of Saint Louis, Oct. 20–Nov. 19, 1956; Kansas City, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Dec. 2–30, 1956; Detroit Institute of Arts, Jan. 18–Feb. 17, 1957; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mar. 8–Apr. 7, 1957.
- Dayton (Ohio) Art Institute, French Paintings, 1789–1929: From the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Mar. 25–May 22, 1960.
- Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Past Rediscovered: French Painting, 1800–1900, July 3–Sept. 7, 1969.
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gustave Caillebotte: A Retrospective Exhibition, Oct. 22, 1976–Jan. 2, 1977; Brooklyn Museum, Feb. 12–Apr. 24, 1977 (Houston only).
- Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, The New Painting: Impressionism, 1874–1886, Jan. 17–Apr. 6, 1986; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, Apr. 19–July 6, 1986.
- Art Institute of Chicago, The Art of the Edge: European Frames, 1300–1900, Oct. 17–Dec. 14, 1986, not in cat. Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Gustave Caillebotte, 1848–1894, Sept. 16, 1994–Jan. 9, 1995; Art Institute of Chicago, as Gustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist, Feb. 18–May 28, 1995; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 22–Sept. 10, 1995.
- Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008.
- Essen, Germany, Museum Folkwang, Bilder einer Metropole: Die Impressionisten in Paris, Oct. 2, 2010–Jan. 30, 2011.
- Paris, Musée d’Orsay, L’impressionnisme et la mode, Sept. 25, 2012–Jan. 20, 2013; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, asImpressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, Feb. 26–May 27, 2013; Art Institute of Chicago, June 26–Sept. 29, 2013.
- Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye, June 28–Oct. 4, 2015; Fort Worth, Tex., Kimbell Art Museum, Nov. 8, 2015–Feb. 14, 2016.
- Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, Gustave Caillebotte: Painter and Patron of Impressionism, April 26 - October 8 2019.
- Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Caillebotte.
- Peindre les Hommes, Oct. 8, 2024–Jan. 19, 2025; Los Angelese, J. Paul Getty Museum, Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men, Feb. 25–May 25, 2025; Art Institute of Chicago, Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World, June 29–Oct. 5, 2025.
