By Cheryl Anderson
Self Portrait in Boating Attire,1872. A summer hat design popular at the time.
The Park on the Caillebotte Property at Yerres,1875. Zoë is thought to be the little girl and the man is unidentified. The painting was given to Jean Baptiste Matthieu Daurelle. Pierre Wittmer has identified the flowers, in the perfectly planted round beds by an excellent gardener, as impatiens and begonias. It’s noted, Caillebotte “treated the figures as accessories in a portrait off the park.”
Born into a prosperous Parisian family in 1848, Gustave Caillebotte, some have said, is the forgotten Impressionist. However, there’s no denying his contribution to the Impressionist cause was significant. He studied law, completing his degree by age twenty, and at age twenty-two was drafted and fought in the Franco-Prussian War conflict, 1870-1871. It was after his service that he was determined to pursue a career as an artist. During his lifetime he amassed a very large art collection that he bequeathed to the French State. He is known for being a patron to artist colleagues and among his close friends, Monet, Pissarro, Manet and Renoir. Gustave’s fortune helped support the Impressionist cause and his organization of Impressionist exhibitions furthered the movement.
Photo of the house at Yerres
The Gardener, 1877.
Portraits in the Country,1876. The ladies embroidering and reading, as was their custom.
The Kitchen Garden, 1875/77
In 1860, the Caillebotte family bought a delightful summer home, “a pleasure house” in Yerres…a mere twelve or so miles outside of Paris. Gustave Caillebotte was twelve years old at the time. The property is adjacent to the Yerres river. The family spent their summers there until 1879. Gustave went to boarding school, but how wonderful it must have been for him to look forward to those summers. Yerres became his subject matter…the house, the park, the garden, the kitchen garden, and scenes from the adjacent river. More than just subject matter, his paintings from Yerres evoke a lifestyle. His was one of privilege. The paintings focused on leisure activities, daily life, rural landscapes, and boating. From perhaps what are raindrops in the Yerres river, to the painting, Soldiers in the Woods, 1871, Caillebotte was able to capture nature’s beauty and a life experience that took him into the woods with soldiers.
The Orange Trees,1878. Gustave’s brother, Martial, reading and Zoë finding something interesting in the orange tree planter box. What lovely metal chairs and table in the design of the period.
Fishing, 1878
Camille Daurelle Under the Oak Tree, 1872/78. Camille was eight years old,..the son of Jean Daurelle the Caillebotte custodian and steward.
Les Jardiniers,1875/77. Zinc watering cans and I read they had copper ones as well. I especially like the glass clochesall in a rowcovering the young melon plants. The gardeners were barefoot “so as not to crush the planted furrows.”, and all wearing their professional aprons. What wonderful trellises along the wall. Gustave caught it all in this painting telling the garden story at Yerres.
There was no lack of amusements for the family…billiards, hunting for René, Gustave’s younger brother, and river fun, swimming, fishing, and rowboating. The women read and embroidered, “As idleness was frowned upon.” And, I imagine too, the ladies took many turns around the park and various gardens on the property. A chapel was added to the property. Gustave’s half brother, Abbé Alfred Caillebotte, presided over the masses.
Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, 1872/78. Summer’s bounty.
The Nap,1877. Pastel
The Wall of the Kitchen Garden,1875/77
The Garden,1876
A description of the grounds: “it consists of a large and beautiful (Neoclassical) residence and various subsidiary structures…two cottages facing the house, one of which serves as the gardener’s residence, with contiguous outbuildings.” The English style park sits along the river, iron bridges cross over the river, and a very large ice cellar in the form a grotto.
Path Through the Old-Growth Woods in the Park, 1872/78.
Woman Seated Under a Tree,1872/73.
The interior of the house description: “ ‘large and beautiful dining room’ is said to have walls and ceiling decorated with gilded paneling and coffers: in the panels, eight large landscapes painted on canvas and signed by Corot and Bardot.” The salon was white and gold with a fireplace in antique yellow, and a billiard room with gilded panels. On the main floor was a “substantial library.” The many bedrooms are on the upper two floors. The outbuildings included, a “hen-house, cow barn, dairy, laundry, stables and carriage house, rabbit-hutch, rubble disposal, etc.” Neither the architect or the construction date of “this ensemble is known.” The cupboards were filled with “impressive” china and crystal, an extensive collection of cut-glass, and a well-stocked wine cellar.
Bathers,1877. Pastel
The Yerres Rain,1875. One is left to wonder if rain was falling. According to Kirk Varnedoe, “bubbles and insects can create similar effects on a water surface in fine weather.”
Bathers,1878.
Gustave Caillebotte, on the right, with his boating friends, 1877/79
Gustave made several trips to visit his friend Monet at Giverny. There they had garden and flower discussions as they shared a passion for horticulture and rare plants. Caillebotte was Monet’s best man when he married Alice Raingo-Hoschedé in 1892. It’s been suggested that Monet got the idea for the Japanese bridge at Giverny from the Caillebotte property in Yerres. The Caillebotte summer house was sold after the death of his parents in 1879. It was then that Gustave stopped painting in Yerres. The property is now owned by the township of Yerres.
Périssoires,1878. Flat bottomed canoes.
Périssoires,1877. Flat bottomed canoes
Caillebotte explored the subject of canotiers, the French term for sailors and non-professional rowers, a theme that had gained popularity among artists such as Monet, and notably Manet’s, Les Canotiers d’Argenteuil. Gustave Caillebotte’s emphasis was “focused exclusively on rowing, concentrating his attention on the physical exertion involved in the ‘leisure’ activity, and this represents something of a departure, as has been noted by Robert Herbert.”, author of, Impressionism Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society, 1988. One can see how physical exertion is also present in his painting, Floor-Scrapers, 1875.
Canotiers (Oarsmen), 1877.
As Gustave had a “river at his feet”, the means to have a “catalogue of small craft”, and plenty of leisure time he was able to become an enthusiast of rowboating, or what the “French initiates called, le rowing.” Rowboating, was an English import that gained “popularity in France during the Second Empire.” Caillebotte’s group of friends participated in the sport more as a “diversion” to fill the leisure hours and less of a club oriented interest. “Rather than racing, Caillebotte’s boaters seem to exert themselves only moderately…Caillebotte’s approach to the sport was more personal, reflecting the role in his own life.”
Gustave Caillebotte in his garden at Petit Gennevilliers, February, 1892.
Gustave Caillebotte beside the greenhouse with his dog at Petit Gennevilliers, February, 1892.
Gustave Caillebotte in his greenhouse at Petit Gennevilliers.
Gustave’s keen interest in gardening began in Yerres. He was both curious and enthusiastic to learn. In the Caillebotte library, is a copy of, Complete Manual of the Gardener, by Louis Noisette, 1835. What he learned in Yerres served him well and later when he and his brother, Martial, acquired and developed property at Petit Gennevilliers on the banks of the Seine across from Argenteuil. Besides a garden, there was an orchid greenhouse. This location brought together the brother’s passion for horticulture and, ”pleasure boating, or as the French then called, le yachting.” Gustave would settle there with, Charlotte Berthier, with whom he had shared his life since around 1883.
The Art Institute of Chicago has brought us a wonderful Gustave Caillebotte exhibit this summer of his urban images. His paintings in Yerres gives us a glimpse into how he and his family spent their summer. The images are sunny and bright and show Gustave’s, I believe, devotion to his family. If your summer plans include a trip to Paris, why not stop by his family’s “pleasure house” adding to your Gustave Caillebotte visual journey. Visitor information can be found at, Maison Caillebotte…tour the house, gardens, and the park.
Bonne vacance!
Quotes and pictures:
Gustave Caillebotte: Urban Impressionist, Abbeville Press Publishers
My Summer in Caillebotte’s Garden, by Pierre Wittmer and Sylvie Dannaud, Éditions Monelle Hayot.
A perfectly charming book for a young person’s introduction to Gustave Caillebotte. Inside are projects, things to know about a garden and gardening, birds, a word game, and many more activities and projects.
