Gustave Caillebotte

Caillebotte was a painter whose role in the Impressionist movement was that of both artist and patron. His paintings frequently depict everyday life in urban Paris. By the time of his death he had acquired a collection of canvases by Degas, Cézanne, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Millet. His bequest of this collection to the French State, at first highly criticised and accepted only in part, helped ensure that Impressionist art would be taken seriously.