Gustave Caillebotte

Jules Dubois, Paris (acquired circa 1894)

Private Collection, Switzerland (sold: Sotheby's, London, December 2, 1986, lot 19)

Private Collection, New York (acquired at the above sale)

Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris (Briest), April 10, 1989, lot 76

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Lausanne, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Caillebotte, Au coeur de l'impressionnisme, 2005, no. 54, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Marie Berhaut, La vie et l’oeuvre de Gustave Caillebotte, Paris, 1951, no. 191, illustrated

Marie Berhaut, Caillebotte: sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1978, no. 232, illustrated p. 160

Marie Berhaut, Gustave Caillebotte, Catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels, Paris, 1994, no. 215, illustrated p. 155

Caillebotte’s panoramic view of the River Seine, featuring the Pont d’Argenteuil and the hill of Orgemont in the background, depicts one of the artist’s favorite motifs.  The present work was painted from the garden of the house at Le Petit Gennevilliers which Caillebotte acquired in 1881. Signs of the industrial zone of Saint-Denis are visible on the horizon, evidencing the expansion of Paris and its suburbs into the countryside and foretelling the impending transformation of the natural landscape.

The co-existence of the modern and the pastoral was a favorite theme in Impressionist landscape painting, and Caillebotte’s depiction here is one of the most skillful. Using a restrained palette of hushed blues, silvers and greens, he captures the even light of the water and the great expanse of the background. Through the gentle tonal variations and the rapid brushstrokes, La Berge et le Pont d’Argenteuil captures the effects of his plein air technique.  The modernizing spirit of the landscape is further emphasized by the sailing boats and smoking chimneys on the horizon which typify the Seine as a site of both leisure and industrial activity. 

The key background element of the artist's painting here is the highway bridge that connects Argenteuil and Petit Gennevilliers.  Constructed of wood and cut-stone in the 1830s, the bridge was rebuilt after its destruction during the Franco-Prussian War and was one of the best-known landmarks of the area, as it had provided the only route to Paris prior to the railroad reaching Argenteuil.  This picture, like so many of Caillebotte's best paintings of this era, defined the changing architectural phenomena in the Third Republic under the leadership of Napoleon III.  For France at large, the years of 1870-71 encompassed the war with Prussia, the Siege of Paris, and the establishment and subsequent repression of the revolutionary Commune government.  In the present composition the bridge served as a visual confirmation of the nation's recovery from the civil conflicts and political struggles of the day.

Caillebotte spent the majority of his time at his home in Gennevilliers. Like his Impressionist colleagues Monet and Pissarro, Caillebotte was intimately familiar with the various picturesque views around Argenteuil, which provided sites for some of the most revered Impressionist landscapes.  Caillebotte was also an avid sailor and boat designer. As Thomas P. Lee observed: “An interesting aspect of Caillebotte’s life is his keen interest in yachting and boat design.  Not only did he take great pleasure in the competitive sport, but also he enjoyed painting it… While Caillebotte certainly would remember the boating scenes of Manet and Renoir, his interest is always more directly related to the shapes of boats, masts and sails” (K. Varnedoe & T. Lee, Gustave Caillebotte, A Retrospective Exhibition (exhibition catalogue), Houston, 1976, p. 179).