The Seine at Argenteuil

c. 1892

Well known as a painter of modern Paris, Caillebotte was also interested in rural scenes. This painting shows a view not far from his home, looking across the Seine toward Argenteuil. Factories appear in the distance, but their chimneys barely intrude upon the sky, their smoke blending with the clouds. Caillebotte’s technique is richly varied—the grassy riverbank that dominates the foreground is thickly painted, while the sky and water are described with thin, fluid strokes of the artist’s brush.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	21 3/8 x 25 5/8 in. (54.3 x 65.1 cm) Frame: 30 1/8 × 34 5/8 × 4 1/2 in. (76.5 × 87.9 × 11.4 cm)
Object Number	1973.35
Acquisition	Gift of George Heard Hamilton and Polly W. Hamilton, 1973
Status	On View

Image Caption

Gustave Caillebotte, The Seine at Argenteuil, c. 1892, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, gift of George Heard Hamilton and Polly W Hamilton, 1973.35

Select Bibliography

Cosandier, Juliane. Caillebotte: Au coeur de l'impressionnisme. Exhibition catalogue. Lausanne: Fondation de l'Hermitage, 2005. Galeries Durand-Ruel. Retrospective d'oeuvres de Gustave Caillebotte. Exhibition catalogue. Paris: Galeries Durand-Ruel, 1894. Harris, Jean C., Steve Kern, and Bill Stern. Lasting Impressions: French and American Impressionism from New England Museums. Exhibition catalogue. Springfield, MA: Museum of Fine Arts, 1988. Tabler, Carol Forman. Illuminations: Images of Landscape in France, 18551885. Exhibition catalogue. Huntington, NY: Heckscher Museum, 1990. Calo, Carole Gold, and Barbara Shissler Nosanow. Impressionism and Post Impressionism: The Collector's Passion. Exhibition catalogue. Portland, ME: Portland Museum of Art, 1991. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Christie's. Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Watercolours and Sculpture (Part I). Auction catalogue. London, 23 June 1997. Berhaut, Marie. Gustave Caillebotte: Catalogue Raisonné des Peintures et Pastels. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1994. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012. Berhaut, Marie. Caillebotte: Sa vie et son oeuvre, catalogue raisonné des peintures et pastels. Paris: Bibliothèque des Arts, 1978. Bachelard, Patrice, ed. De Manet et Caillebotte: Les Impressionistes à Gennevilliers. Paris: Editions Plume, 1993. Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.

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Provenance

The artist, given to Rabot, 1892; Pierre Rabot, Petit Gennevilliers (from 1892); Michel Benisovich, Paris and New York (sold to Hirschl & Adler, Jan. 1954); [Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1954-56, sold to Hamilton, May 1956]; George Heard and Polly W. Hamilton, New Haven and Williamstown (1956–73, given to the Clark); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1973.