The archive / Impressionism / Paris Street; Rainy Day
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Paris Street; Rainy Day
Gustave Caillebotte · 1848–1894
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3 variations + a matched story print, every standard frame ratio. 300 DPI · sRGB · personal-use license.
Museum-quality giclée on Hahnemühle German Etching — heavyweight 310gsm, acid-free, velvety matte. Made to order & shipped.
Sizes in the download
Ready-to-print files at every size below — each drops straight into a standard frame at 300 DPI, nothing cropped:
Each of these also prints big-wall at 150 DPI — up to about 36″ on the short side (so the 36×24″ becomes 54×36″), for a step-back view. Or print the borderless master, the full-resolution scan, sharp to about A1.
The work
A rainy day with no rain in it.
Caillebotte never painted a single raindrop. He conveys the wet weather indirectly, through the subtle reflections on the cobblestones and the umbrellas, rather than by depicting falling rain.
Look closer
This is a real corner of Paris.
The scene depicts a real intersection near the artist's home, where the rue de Turin and the rue de Moscou meet in the Haussmann-era district near the Gare Saint-Lazare. When it debuted as catalogue number 1 at the third Impressionist exhibition in April 1877, its title was the deliberately generic 'Rue de Paris; temps de pluie,' downplaying the identifiable spot.
Why it matters
Nothing here was left to chance.
Recent X-ray examination revealed extensive last-minute changes: the lamppost was elongated and widened, the cobblestones were repainted multiple times, and the large rear-facing man at the right and the carriage at the far left were late additions. The composition's right edge was relocated at least twice before Caillebotte settled the picture.
[This painting] gives an idea of what photography will become.— Paul Sébillot, art critic, reviewing the third Impressionist exhibition, 1877
The file & the facts
- Title
- Paris Street; Rainy Day
- Artist
- Gustave Caillebotte
- Year
- 1877
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original
- 212.2 × 276.2 cm
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Rights
- Open access · personal use
- File
- 300 DPI · sRGB · JPEG
