Hot topics

Museums and art historians, despite their classical appearance, nowadays tend to focus on “hot topics”, in other words, art that expresses current concerns in an effort to address past injustices . Often discussed, for example, is the underrepresentation of black people in Western painting or the poor treatment reserved for women in artistic careers.

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is also one of the subjects attracting growing interest in artists’ biographies. The exhibition “Caillebotte, peindre les hommes” (Caillebotte: Painting Men) seems to address this subject. Taking place at the Musée d’Orsay until January 19, the show is absolutely exceptional. But don’t be fooled by appearances.

Obsession with young ladies

If, by any chance, you’re interested to know whether the painter who created the famous “Raboteurs de parquet” – curiously his most famous painting still belongs to a private collection today – was gay, you wouldn’t get your money’s worth. The fact is that at a time when his contemporaries were obsessed with young ladies, from Manet to Degas, he, when painting figures, depicted men 70% of the time.

Naked, seen from behind

It’s the co-curator of the exhibition Paul Perrin who affirms this. Out of 65 major works at the Orsay we notice Caillebotte’s male subjects are at the fore. They’re naked but modest, pensive on a balcony often seen from behind, also rowing on the river, reading, walking or simply wearing a soldier’s outfit…

Scott Allan

When it comes to determining what the painter’s attractions were, the three curators of the exhibition reply in unison saying: “it’s complicated.” Scott Allan from the Getty in Los Angeles asserts, for example, that the social behaviour of the time shouldn’t be analysed through the prism of the 21st century. Caillebotte was a wealthy man who didn’t need to sell in order to live. The subjects therefore don’t fit with any commercial logic.

Cold light, hiding her face

This is the case for his immense female nude, “Nu au divan” produced around 1880, in which the gaunt figure bathed in cold light hides her face behind her arm with pubic hair on show. We’ve seen sexier. On the other hand, just opposite, two paintings depicting a man who’s just finished his ablutions show him as muscular, dynamic and ultimately virile.

Into the bathroom

In “L’homme au bain” from 1884, through countless details Caillebotte introduces us into the bathroom with him and his model. The ground still bears the marks of the gentleman’s wet feet and his well-worn heeled boots certainly indicate a person of modest circumstances. Through his avant-garde cinematographic viewpoints (before the invention of cinema), Caillebotte monumentalized the man of his time, whatever his social class.

From the front he zooms in on the rower in the top hat. (The painting, which has been classified as a national treasure, now belongs to the Musée d’Orsay after being acquired in 2020 thanks to funding from LVMH).

Hymn to modernity

In profile he can immortalize him as a pensive worker on the new Pont de l’Europe, where the metal structures of the bridge are the true heroes of this composition, which is a hymn to modernity. From behind he represents the silhouette of his brother René at the window in 1876. Legs slightly apart, hands in his pockets… He looks confident, almost nonchalant.

53 million dollars

The work was acquired by the Getty at auction in 2021 for the record sum of 53 million dollars. Lastly, the most complex composition shows, through a play of mirrors, a figure from the front and back in a café. He plays with reflections as Manet did two years later in his masterpiece: “Bal aux Folies Bergère”.

The art critic Gustave Geffroy found the right words to describe his contemporary:“Caillebotte is the pictorial chronicler of modern existence”.

Most beautiful show

This extraordinary painter certainly suffered from his status as a figure with a separate private income, before being belatedly recognized as a major talent. The choice of the masculine theme, although it may seem unusual, gives this collection of works exceptional strength. One of the most beautiful exhibitions to go and see at the moment.

Caillebotte. Peindre les hommes. Musée d’Orsay. Until 19 January. www.musee-orsay.fr/fr