Gustave Caillebotte: A Unique Synthesis of Academic and Impressionist Approaches

Gustave Caillebotte - The Floor Scrapers - 1875 - Oil on canvas - H. 102; W. 146.5 cm - Musée d’Orsay (click photo for larger image)French painter Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) was a member and patron of the Impressionist group, though he painted in a much more realistic manner than other of the movement’s artists. The painting featured here is one of the first representations of urban proletariat. although peasants or country workers had often been shown, city workers had seldom been painted. Unlike such artists as Courbet or Millet, Caillebotte does not incorporate any social, moralizing or political message in his work. He just paints it like it is!