Although Caillebotte did not dis-
solve his image into the broken color and
brushwork characteristic of Impression-
ism, he did use an informal and asym-
metrical composition. The figures seem
randomly placed, with the frame crop-
ping them arbitrarily, suggesting the
transitory nature of the street scene.
Well-dressed Parisians of the leisure class
share the viewer’s space. Despite the
sharp focus ofParis: A Rainy Day, the
picture captures the artist’s “impression”
of urban life.
CAMILLE PISSARROOther Impressionists also found the spa-
cious boulevards and avenues that were the product of “Hauss-
mannization” attractive subjects for paintings.La Place du Théâtre
Français (FIG. 31-6) is one of many panoramic scenes of Paris that
Camille Pissarro(1830–1903) painted. The artist recorded the
blurred dark accents against a light ground that constituted his visual
sensations of a crowded Paris square viewed from several stories above
street level. The moment Pissarro captured in this painting is not so
much of fugitive light effects as it is of the
street life, achieved through a deliberate
casualness in the arrangement of figures.
To accomplish this sense of spontaneity,
Pissarro, like many of his fellow Impres-
sionists, sometimes used photography to
record the places he wished to paint.
Scholars have been quick to point out the
visual parallels between Impressionist
paintings and photographs. These paral-
lels include, here, the arbitrary cutting off
of figures at the frame’s edge and the cu-
rious flattening spatial effect produced by
the high viewpoint.
BERTHE MORISOT Many Impressionist paintings depict
scenes from resort areas on the seashore or along the Seine River,
such as Argenteuil, Bougival, and Chatou. The railway line that car-
ried people to and from Saint-Lazare Station connected Argenteuil
to Paris, so transportation was not an obstacle. Parisians often would
take the train out to these resort areas for a day of sailing, picnicking,
and strolling along the Seine. Berthe Morisot (1841–1895),
Édouard Manet’s sister-in-law, regularly exhibited with the Impres-31-6Camille Pissarro,La Place du
Théâtre Français,1898. Oil on canvas,
2 4 –^12 3 –^12 . Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Los Angeles (Mr. and
Mrs. George Gard De Sylva Collection).
This Impressionist view of a crowded
Paris square seen from several stories
above street level has much in common
with photographs, especially the flat-
tening spatial effect resulting from the
high viewpoint.
31-7Berthe Morisot,Villa at
the Seaside,1874. Oil on canvas,
1 73 – 4 2 –^18 . Norton Simon Art
Foundation, Los Angeles.
In this informal view of a woman and
child enjoying their leisure time at a
fashionable seashore resort, Berthe
Morisot used swift, sketchy strokes of
light colors to convey a feeling of airiness.
1 ft.1 in.826 Chapter 31 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1870 TO 190031-7AMORISOT,
Summer’s Day,
1879.