Gustave Caillebote, Paris: Rainy Day

This is a commercial print, purchased at the Art Institiute of Chicago, where the original hangs.
Caillebote most prominent role in art history was as a patron of several of the Impressionists, but he also did some painting
of his own.  The Art Institute has a very fine collection of Impressionists, but this picture has long been a crowd
pleaser, and is hung at the entrance to the Impressionist galleries.  It is a very large canvas and it is hung at a
height  that gives you the distinct feeling that you could walk right in to the scene.  The total lack of automobiles
and the people's dress are about the only things that separate this view from Paris today.