Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) was born into a wealthy Parisian family. He trained to become an engineer but later changed his mind and studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts (Academy of Fine Arts), a traditional art school focused on classical ideals. Despite this, Caillebotte experimented with modern subjects. Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, two of Caillebotte’s contemporaries, admired his work and invited him to display his work at the second Impressionist exhibition. The artists organized these exhibitions as an alternative to those held by the rigid Academy. Caillebotte accepted and became an enthusiastic supporter of the Impressionists.
Caillebotte shared the Impressionists’ interest in the fashionable lifestyle of the new middle class, the lives of the working class, and the modern urban spaces they inhabit. In his Paris Street; Rainy Day, the artist represents both. The figures in the foreground wear fine clothing, while the woman in the background on the right wears an apron. A workman in the background, between the figures in the foreground, carries a ladder.
Like other Impressionists, Caillebotte was also interested in capturing natural light. In this painting, gray light filters through the hazy clouds. It shimmers on the puddles and wet sidewalk.
Caillebotte composes the monumental composition—the painting is 7 feet tall and 9 feet wide—with great intention. He crops the painting dramatically, showing only half of the man on the right, as if he has just walked into the picture plane. The three figures and the building in the foreground on the right appear to be very close to the viewer, while the rest of the composition appears in the distance. The artist also balances the composition in quadrants defined by the lamppost and horizon line.
Caillebotte uses several techniques to create a sense of depth. The size of the figures recedes as they get farther away from the viewer. The saturation of the colors and clarity of the details also lessen with increased distance, obscured by the atmospheric perspective. The artist also uses linear perspective. The lines of the building on the right, the sidewalk, and the street converge in the approximate center of the painting at the horizon line.
Despite his Impressionist leanings, Caillebotte also uses some techniques traditional in academic painting. In contrast to the Impressionists’ loose brushwork, he clearly defines the details and presents solidly modeled forms.