Gustave Caillebotte, 1848 Paris – 1894 Gennev... Lot n° 698

Le Jardin, c. 1878 Oil on canvas. 33 x 46 cm. In decorative gilded frame. Attached certificate of the Wildenstein Institute, Paris 1997. The first impression of the painting is that of a profusion of colors. Long before one thinks to recognize flowers, the eye first grasps an abundance of blobs of color, more reminiscent of a palette than a painting on canvas. The foreground in particular has a soft brushstroke, of a green that does not attempt to break away from the brushstrokes with which it has been spread. The blurriness of the treatment invites our eye to focus beyond it into the depths of the painting. Potted plants appear there, and even further back, a tall table with three legs. We are in a garden with a path crisscrossed with flower boxes. The flowerbed in the foreground is thus given its full meaning and place. Gustave Caillebotte has left an impressionist impression with his quickly painted painting; colors and scattered here and there his red brushstrokes, which become less and less according to the rules of perspective. Although the glistening light of the pure colors in the foreground can also be attributed to the impressionist painting style, it is the angle of view that gives this composition its originality. The angle of view is close to the flowers in the foreground, showing us the table in a slightly lower view. Innovative, daring, framed like a photograph, this work captures to the point alone the modernity of Gustave Caillebotte. (†) Provenance: Private collection A.K., Paris. Note: Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) was a French Impressionist painter. After studying law, he began painting in the studio of Léon Bonnat (1833-1922) and later at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After the death of his father in 1874, he inherited a comfortable fortune and was able to devote himself to painting. At this time he began painting small pictorial formats of the family estate in Yerres until it was sold in 1878. His first painting in 1875 was the realistic painting "Les Raboteurs de parquet" and was rejected at the Salon because of its prosaic subject, the work of laborers. Caillebotte then turned to Impressionism and participated in the Impressionist exhibitions of 1876, 1877, 1879, 1880, and 1882. He supported the movement financially and participated personally in organizing the exhibitions. He bought paintings by Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir and Manet, building up an extraordinary collection, which he bequeathed to the state after his death. These paintings are now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. In 1880, Caillebotte bought a property in Petit-Gennevilliers on the banks of the Seine, where he received his Impressionist friends, including in particular Monet, who was inspired by his garden to create his own in Giverny. His contact with him led to the disappearance of the smooth brushwork and apparent drawing of the beginnings, and instead he now relies on fragmented drawing and the representation of shapes and light through the juxtaposition of colors, as can be admired in this garden. When Paul Durand-Ruel organized a major Impressionist exhibition of 300 paintings in New York in 1886, ten of Caillebotte's paintings were included, making him well known to the American public. His early death at the age of 46 interrupted the career of one of the most original talents of Impressionism and deprived him of the fame he would achieve a century later. (1330935) (18) Gustave Caillebotte, 1848 Paris - 1894 Gennevilliers LE JARDIN (THE GARDEN), CA. 1878 Oil on canvas. 33 x 46 cm. Accompanied by a certificate by Wildenstein Institute, Paris, 1997. (†) Provenance: Private collection A.K., Paris.