Lot 8. Painted in Estate of the artist. Private collection, France. Berhaut, Caillebotte l'impressionniste , Lausanne, , p. Chardeau, Les dessins de Caillebotte , Paris, , pp. Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel et Cie. Lot Essay Gustave Caillebotte was a passionate supporter, financial and otherwise, of the Impressionist artists and their exhibitions. The group was a cohesive one until the late s when internal strife began to brew among its members--namely the separating factions of Degas, Manet and Renoir, causing the Salon system to fragment and falter.
Due to these complications and frustrations, Caillebotte reduced his involvement with the movement and in settled in Petit-Gennevilliers, just across the Seine from Argenteuil. It was here that Caillebotte cultivated his interest in sailboats and even became involved in their design and construction.
As Thomas P. Lee has observed: An interesting aspect of Caillebotte's life is his keen interest in yatching and boat design. Not only did he take great pleasure in the competitive sport, but also he enjoyed painting it.
While Caillebotte would remember the boating scenes of Monet and Renoir, his interest is always more directly related to the shapes of boats, masts and sails K. Varnedoe and T. While Caillebotte's boating pictures of the s often reflected the technical experiments of his fellow Impressionists, those made in the closing years of his life, including the present work, have a more individual approach in the handling of the medium and the use of diagonals.
Examination of a squared preparatory drawing for the present work indicates that Caillebotte accentuated the verticality of the composition through the strong diagonal of the main sail, whose tip rises forcefully toward the upper left edge see J. Chardeau, Les dessins de Caillebotte , Paris, , p. The present painting bears the signature 'G Caillebotte', applied after the death of the artist by Martial, Gustave's brother, who along with Pierre-Auguste Renoir was the executor of his estate.
