Collection/1800s

Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte

A wide Paris crossroads in the rain, new buildings, wet cobblestones, people under umbrellas. Caillebotte painted Haussmann’s modern city: broad boulevards that had replaced old medieval streets only a few years before.

Look at the lamppost in the middle that splits the picture in two, and at the couple walking toward us. Their umbrella is about to bump into the man walking past at the far right.