Lot Essay
In 1882, disillusioned with life in Paris, Caillebotte moved to Petit Gennevilliers, a small village on the Seine near Argenteuil. For the rest of his days, the Seine was to be the focus of his life, both as a site for leisure and as a subject for painting.
A passionate sailor and fisherman, Caillebotte spent many hours on the Seine, first as a rower and later as a yachtsman. Argenteuil was the nearest spot to Paris where serious yachting could take place, and was the headquarters of the Cercle de la Voile de Paris, a prestigious sailing club to which Caillebotte belonged. The first regatta at Argenteuil had been sponsored by the mayor of the town in 1850, and its popularity as an escape from the city had grown ever since. Monet and Manet had been painting the life of the river since the early 1870s, and the subject provided similar inspiration for Caillebotte. Much of his work from 1882 onwards concentrated on the Seine and its tributaries, which Caillebotte depicted in images full of vigor and light.
The brushwork in the present painting is free and loose, and shows Caillebotte's attentive study of Monet, Pissarro and Sisley. As Anne Distel has pointed out:
From 1882 onward, Caillebotte found his principal inspiration as a
painter at Petit Gennevilliers, taking up a repertory of motifs
previously explored by Monet... Curiously, although a man of his
experience on the water might have been expected to highlight
technical details, he consistently viewed [the river] with a
painter's eye, as motifs contributing to overall compositional and
coloristic effects. (A. Distel, Gustave Caillebotte, Urban
Impressionist, Paris, 1994, pp. 272 and 288)
Caillebotte gave the present work as a gift to Paul de Boulongne, a fellow painter and fellow member of the Cercle de la Voile de Paris who frequently sailed with Caillebotte. The painting remained in de Boulongne's family until recently.
A passionate sailor and fisherman, Caillebotte spent many hours on the Seine, first as a rower and later as a yachtsman. Argenteuil was the nearest spot to Paris where serious yachting could take place, and was the headquarters of the Cercle de la Voile de Paris, a prestigious sailing club to which Caillebotte belonged. The first regatta at Argenteuil had been sponsored by the mayor of the town in 1850, and its popularity as an escape from the city had grown ever since. Monet and Manet had been painting the life of the river since the early 1870s, and the subject provided similar inspiration for Caillebotte. Much of his work from 1882 onwards concentrated on the Seine and its tributaries, which Caillebotte depicted in images full of vigor and light.
The brushwork in the present painting is free and loose, and shows Caillebotte's attentive study of Monet, Pissarro and Sisley. As Anne Distel has pointed out:
From 1882 onward, Caillebotte found his principal inspiration as a
painter at Petit Gennevilliers, taking up a repertory of motifs
previously explored by Monet... Curiously, although a man of his
experience on the water might have been expected to highlight
technical details, he consistently viewed [the river] with a
painter's eye, as motifs contributing to overall compositional and
coloristic effects. (A. Distel, Gustave Caillebotte, Urban
Impressionist, Paris, 1994, pp. 272 and 288)
Caillebotte gave the present work as a gift to Paul de Boulongne, a fellow painter and fellow member of the Cercle de la Voile de Paris who frequently sailed with Caillebotte. The painting remained in de Boulongne's family until recently.