Gustave
Caillebotte(b Paris, 18 Aug 1848; d Gennevilliers,
nr Paris, 21 Feb 1894).
French painter and collector. Caillebotte’s parents, of Norman descent, were
wealthy members of the Parisian upper middle class, and
his paintings often evoke his family background. After
studying classics at the Lycée Louis Le Grand, he
obtained a law degree in 1870, and during the
Franco–Prussian War he was drafted into the Seine Garde
Mobile (1870–71). He joined Léon Bonnat’s studio in 1872
and passed the entrance examination for the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts on 18 March 1873. The records of the Ecole
make no mention of his work there, and his attendance
seems to have been short-lived. He was very soon
attracted by the innovative experiments, against
academic teaching, of the young rebels who were to
become known as the Impressionists. In 1874 Edgar Degas,
whom Caillebotte had met at the house of their mutual
friend Giuseppe de Nittis, asked him to take part in the
First Impressionist Exhibition at the Nadar Gallery in
the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. However, it was
only at the time of their second exhibition in April
1876 that, at Auguste Renoir’s invitation, Caillebotte
joined the Impressionist group. From then on he was one
of the most regular participants in their exhibitions
(1877, 1879, 1880, 1882). He organized the show of 1877
and made great efforts to restore the cohesion of the
group by persuading Claude Monet to exhibit in 1879.
Having inherited a large fortune from his parents,
Caillebotte had no need to sell his pictures and could
afford to provide crucial financial assistance for his
artist friends. He purchased their work, much disparaged
at the time, and amassed the famous collection of
Impressionist masterpieces that he left to the State.
