Gustave Caillebotte - Young man at his window & Boating party

These major loans, respectively from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Musée d’Orsay, establish a unique dialog between two of the artist’s most emblematic works. This ambitious project offers visitors an opportunity to immerse in the modern 19th century, personified through a painter who was both innovative and deeply committed to modern art. The 2022 acquisition of Partie de bateau – a listed “National Treasure” of France – was made possible by LVMH, enabling this exceptional collaboration between the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Musée d’Orsay, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Through this exceptional pictorial encounter, visitors may explore Caillebotte’s singular artwork from a fresh perspective.

Following the major exhibition Caillebotte. Peindre les hommes (“Caillebotte: Painting Men”), which was presented at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Art Institute of Chicago, this exceptional New York exhibition highlights an essential facet of the artist’s work: his ability to invent a new iconography of masculinity reflecting the spirit of the times. This major event further confirms the rediscovery of a painter who has long been underestimated, restoring his rightful place within the history of modern French art.

This pairing sheds new light on the French painter’s journey. A close friend of the Impressionists and a keen observer of the latter half of the 19th century in which he lived, Caillebotte used painting to capture the transformations of modern life in the streets of Paris and across his leisure pursuits. He combined a sharp eye for his era with his deeply personal experience, drawing his models from his immediate circle – brothers, friends, workers, and boating companions – to offer a nuanced portrait of late 19th-century masculinity.

With a marked preference for male figures, whom he placed at the center of most of his works, Caillebotte departed from the conventions of his time to focus on the figure of the modern man. Whether in the restrained melancholy of interior scenes or in depictions of sporting activities, his paintings explore the tension between private intimacy and collective sociability. Jeune homme à sa fenêtre and Partie de bateau, majestically exhibited together at the heart of the presentation, embody these two complementary registers.

Brought together, the works also attest to the striking pictorial modernity that Caillebotte was developing during that period. Their daring framing draws the viewer into the very heart of the scene, eliminating the distance between observer and subject. The result is a disquieting sense of immersion. Through his art, Caillebotte offers a deeply personal, keenly felt perspective on a society in motion.