Caillebotte’s Family Home

Gustave was only twelve when his parents bought the huge property as a holiday home close to Paris. The works he produced there between 1874 and 1879 illustrate the hedonistic atmosphere of Sundays in the countryside. He painted the terrace, the exedra decorated with busts of ancient philosophers, the kitchen garden where he exercised his talents as a horticulturalist, and above all the calm waters with rowboats gliding along in the shade of the trees. Here, during the summer months, Caillebotte produced nearly ninety paintings, twenty of which feature the river running alongside the estate. In the 16th century, a manor house used to stand there, which was then occupied until the Revolution. In 1824, the land was bought by the chef Pierre-Frédéric Borrel, who…