| This
painting is an excellent example of how to use a central
eye level.
The
position of the eye level is the key compositional element
in many of Caillebotte's works.
In
this scene, the viewer shares the same eye level as the
strolling figures. This creates the strong illusion that
you are walking or standing on the same street. The common
eye level forms a spatial link between you and the other
figures and psychologically you feel that you are part of
the scene. The picture frame becomes your field of vision
and you almost get the sense that you need to step aside
to avoid brushing shoulders with the approaching gentleman.
This
intimate relationship between the viewer and the image is
what makes the work so popular. It is like taking a look
through a window in time.
The
painting is very carefully arranged. The strong eye level
divides the picture horizontally, while the lamp-post and
its reflection bisect the image vertically. These lines
intersect at the central vanishing point, creating four
rectangles, each of which contributes a separate element
to the composition of the painting:
1)
The lower right rectangle with the boldest shapes and strongest
contrasts, establishes the foreground.
2)
The lower left rectangle with its triangular arrangement
of figures that echo the shape of the building above, stakes
out the middle ground.
3)
The upper right rectangle links the foreground and background
as the buildings recede in sequence from behind the umbrellas.
4)
The upper left rectangle provides the main background interest
with both sides of an apartment block viewed in dramatic
perspective.
(Mouse
over the image to view this structure.)
It
is hard to avoid the idea that the shapes which fill the
upper rectangles are subconsciously influenced by Caillebotte's
training as a naval architect. The apartment block on the
left is like the bow of a massive ship steaming towards
the viewer. If you continue the analogy, the umbrellas on
the right suggest the wind-filled forms of sails bobbing
about on the sea of wet cobblestones. Yachting, after all,
was one of the main pastimes to which Caillebotte returned
when he gave up painting in later life.
In
common with the Impressionists, Caillebotte captured the
everyday scenes of urban Paris, usually from a middle class
viewpoint. In Paris Street, A Rainy Day, painted in 1887,
he portrays the new look of the city at the end of the 19th
century.
Baron
Georges Haussmann was given the job of modernising the old
Paris of narrow streets and alleys. He replaced these with
the network of wide boulevards that characterise Paris to
this day.
In
this painting, the grid-like arrangement of the space and
the radial frames of the umbrellas evoke the arterial structure
of this new road system.
What
makes Caillebotte's paintings different from typical Impressionist
works is the precision of his painting technique. For
example:

The
Floor Scrapers ( 1875 ), which captures the momentary play
of light on the floor and on the backs of the workmen, is
Impressionistic in its subject matter and in its attempt
to portray atmospheric lighting conditions. However the
painting technique owes more to earlier traditions. What
makes this picture modern for the time is that Caillebotte
uses an unusual eye level which lies above the picture plane.
Psychologically, this elevated viewpoint exaggerates the
back-breaking fatigue of the subject. The extreme position
of the figures is also reminiscent of the images of stretching
dancers by Degas.

Caillebotte
also created some typical Impressionist works. 'Rooftops
under Snow' (1878) is a painting which uses a dramatically
high viewpoint. This type of composition originated with
the development of photography. Its design is influenced
by the cropped photographic images which were popular among
the Impressionists at the time. The painting technique used
here is more characteristically Impressionistic. |