FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2025
Gustave Caillebotte. Boating Party, about 1877–78. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Purchased thanks to the exclusive patronage of LVMH, 2022. Photo courtesy of GrandPalaisRmn (Musée d’Orsay) / Sophie Crépy.
CHICAGO—The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to announce Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World, on view June 29 through October 5, 2025. The exhibition features a fresh look at Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte, who many visitors will recognize for his most famous painting, the Art Institute’s own Paris Street; Rainy Day. The show includes more than 120 works—paintings, drawings, photographs, and other documents from throughout the artist’s career—that explore the very personal interests and relationships that shaped him.
Caillebotte charted his own path in comparison to his Impressionist peers. While other artists focused on painting fashionable young women and new forms of entertainment, Caillebotte focused on a more intimate sphere. He painted family and friends, his fellow sportsmen, and the bourgeois and working class people who frequented his neighborhood. He was an active member of the Impressionist group but also participated in several activities as a high-level amateur, including rowing, gardening, and sailing all of which are reflected in the exhibition.
“Visitors will have an opportunity to see the full range of Caillebotte’s paintings, and gain an appreciation for his unique ability to work on monumental realistic compositions as well as smaller scale canvases with a more Impressionist technique,” said Gloria Groom, chair and Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe. “Caillebotte’s works were brazenly radical in their composition and perspective and this exhibition truly highlights the world from his point of view.”
The show includes many works from private collections that are rarely seen by American audiences, in addition to recognizable works like Floor Scrapers and lesser-known but pivotal works like the Musée d’Orsay’s recent acquisition, Boating Party, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s The Bezique Game.
The various works in the show shed light onto Caillebotte—as a complex figure with many interests, as an Impressionist who painted like no other Impressionist, and as an artist who captured his own, very distinct Paris.
Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibition is curated by Gloria Groom, chair and Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, The Art Institute of Chicago; Scott Allan, curator of paintings, The J. Paul Getty Museum; and Paul Perrin, curator and head of conservation and collections, Musée d’Orsay.
Raymond James is the lead corporate sponsor for Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World. Lead support is generously provided by the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Family Foundation.
Sponsors
Lead support for Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World is generously provided by the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Family Foundation.
Lead Corporate Sponsor
Major support is provided by the Butler Family Foundation, Richard F. and Christine F. Karger, Loretta and Allan Kaplan, an anonymous donor, Diane M. Tkach and James F. Freundt, Margot Levin Schiff and the Harold Schiff Foundation, Jane Woldenberg, Julie and Roger Baskes, the Hickey Family Foundation, the Jentes Family, and the Reed Family Foundation.
Additional support is contributed by an anonymous donor, the Jack and Peggy Crowe Fund, the Suzanne and Wesley M. Dixon Exhibition Fund, and The Regenstein Foundation Fund.
Members of the Luminary Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Luminary Trust includes an anonymous donor, Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr., Kenneth C. Griffin, the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, Josef and Margot Lakonishok, Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff, Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel, Cari and Michael J. Sacks, and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
