Impressionist Post 3 Kevin Anderson

Of the impressionist paintings available to be chosen, the one painting that resonated with me most was Gustave Caillebotte’s “Paris Street, Rainy Day”.  This is a scene of a busy street being traveled on from many angles. Caillebotte’s use of lines and color are extraordinary.  He has masterfully used the impressionist method of painting blocks of light and color to acquire his personal impression of the scene in front of him.  There is some time spent in detail, so I would not classify this as strictly impressionistic, but also would have to include some realism was having influence on Caillebotte.  When I see this painting I get a charge of renew, a sense of “a new day coming”.  There is a sense that we are all moving in different directions headed to our sunlight spot in the world.  

                Our text does not go into great detail about the painting, but what I see are a wide variety of lateral lines that seem to tilt the picture to the side, as exampled by the cobblestone road aligning to the three walkers on the right and beyond.  I can see three vanishing points being used to bring a wide variety of depth to this scene.  One such line is located to the left of the left-centered building at street level, and another is to the right of the same building, again at street level just to the right of the lamppost.   The third point is somewhere off to the right a ways away from the canvas.  The cobblestone street is drawn from that vanishing point.  The strictly vertical lamppost brings the viewer back into balance and gives the viewer something to “hold on to” while the rest of the painting seems to be sliding off to the right.  There is a certain line orientation that is discombobulated between the lines on the street, the unseen lines and the line of sight that each subject is using.  This appears to be that this painting is moving in many directions all at once.   The use of these lines in itself pushes this painting towards realism.  Further can be taken into account if you have the subject matter in the discussion.

                When looking at the colors offered in this painting, they are bright at the right side of the painting and rather drab otherwise.  I believe this was done to bring a certain amount of balance from bright to drab, right to left.  There are only a few sections of bright color scattered throughout the rest of the painting.  There is a large amount of earth tone color in the brick and a much flatter sidewalk area where the walkers stroll on the right hand side.  There is a large amount of muted light throughout the left side of the painting and above in the sky.  There is also a great study of reflection on the street and walkways. The light and dark sections of each subject are well done.  With such a high concentration of the bright orange to the right, it lends one to wonder if the road to the right is much brighter and shinier than the current one being rained on.  As I analyze the shadows in this painting by Caillebotte, I notice that they are headed in different directions.  Especially when you take a close look at the umbrellas and walkers shadows.  I take this to imply that perhaps “light” shines in all directions….are you willing to see the light or be mired in the rain?

                The brushstrokes seem very broad and rough toward the foreground, and in the background they are less broad and more detailed.  More detail as noted by the almost perfect looking windows and iron work on the buildings.  There is also a certain array of shapes in the painting as well.  I see lots of linear lines as well as oval based subject matter throughout it.  For example, there is an oval look to the street and deviated ovals in the umbrellas throughout.  A “world of ovals and round existing amongst the lines of formality”.

  The sheer size of the painting tells me that the artist wanted you to stand in front of this painting and feel you could take 3 steps into it.  The capture of the lighting and muted sky really lend to the feeling of a new day with multiple ways of getting to where you want to go.  My resonance with this art piece comes from a memory from years ago, and that in itself has me wanting to run into this painting figuretively.