Laura Junger
Gustave Caillebotte
Born 1848 in Paris
Died 1894 in Le Petit-Gennevilliers
As an academically trained painter, Caillebotte depicted modern life in Paris. His seascapes and garden scenes are thematically related to Monet’s work.
David von Becker
Caillebotte studied law and served in the French National Guard before enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1873. From 1874 on, an inheritance from his father provided him with an upper-class lifestyle, which he devoted to his passions—painting, water sports, and botany. Caillebotte also financially supported his painter friends such as Monet and Renoir.
In addition to figural scenes and views of Paris, often rendered in bold perspectives, Caillebotte depicted regattas on the Normandy coast and leisure activities on the Seine River. In 1881 he acquired property at Le Petit-Gennevilliers across from Argenteuil and devoted himself to gardening. His extensive collection of Impressionist art is now on display in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
Caillebotte in the collection
Gustave Caillebotte is represented with seven works in the Hasso Plattner Collection, on view in the Museum Barberini as a permanent loan from the Hasso Plattner Foundation. With over 110 paintings of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, including masterpieces by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Gustave Caillebotte, and Paul Signac, the museum in Potsdam is one of the most important centers of Impressionist landscape painting in the world.
