Caillebotte, Gustave

Caillebotte, Gustave

(born Aug. 19, 1848, Paris, Fr.—died Feb. 21, 1894, Gennevilliers) French painter and art collector. Born to a wealthy family, he was a naval architect by profession. He pursued his interest in painting at the École des Beaux-Arts and became a prolific painter of contemporary subjects, town and country views, still lifes, and boating scenes. In Caillebotte's masterpiece, Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877), he used bold perspective to create a monumental portrait of a Paris intersection. In addition to his own painting, Caillebotte was the chief organizer, promoter, and financial backer of the Impressionist exhibitions, and he purchased works by Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and others. He bequeathed his collection to the state, and in 1897 it formed the basis of the first Impressionist exhibition in a French museum. See Impressionism.