Isolation in the life of Caillebotte

The boom of industrialization in the late nineteenth century caused impressionist artists to celebrate the new modern life. Gustave Caillebotte, on the other hand, critiqued modernity by emphasizing the isolation that coincided with it. He felt that because of new technology and the high demand of mass produced items, interaction between people was lost and a reliance on machinery took over. Caillebotte stood out from other impressionist artists because he explored the idea of isolationism by utilizing modern gender roles in relation to the unusual interior and exterior space that he puts them in.   

                In most of Caillebotte’s work, he incorporates some kind of barrier or window to the outside world, which demonstrates tension between domestic space and the outside world in modern life, thus establishing a sense of isolation in the viewer. For example, in his work Young Man at His Window, painted in 1875 depicts a finely dressed, modern man standing at an open window. The interior space is much darker and melancholic than the outside space where the sky is lit up by the shining sun and towering buildings loom in his view. The viewer gets the sense of longing and tension because this man is trapped in this internal space. Tension between gender roles is also present in this piece. In the background, a woman walking down the street catches the man’s stare. Perhaps this is a sign of sexual tension or the question of what constitutes masculinity. Up until this point in time, women were mostly seen in domestic spaces, while the men were out and about making the money. Caillebotte incorporates this switch in gender roles to represent what is happening in modern society.              

                Another painting that delved into the idea of gender roles is Luncheon painted in 1876, just two years after his father’s death. Caillebotte’s family history may be the primary source for his central theme of isolation in painting. In fact, during only a span of four years, he lost his father, his brother, and his mother.  Moreover, Luncheon shows a scene of his mother and brother eating at the family table while a servant brings their food. Caillebotte depicted his mother with an authoritative presence in this painting because of the death of his father. Both mother and son seem occupied with their meal and separate from each other. One other theme that Caillebotte seems to use as the underlying composition for all of his paintings is illusionism and a rapid receding space. For example, in Luncheon, the table is at such a steep perspective that the viewer gets the sense of isolation because there is so much space between the two figures. This is a domestic scene, yet there are men painted within the interior space. Caillebotte was promoting the fact that domestic space can be masculine too. This is also evident in his Floor Scraper painting of 1875. The painting shows three men working in a domestic space. The lighting is dim, and the workers’ faces are kept in the shadows. The feeling of isolation is triggered by the men’s scraping motions moving away from the viewer while their shadows creep into the foreground, creating a somber mood. Similar to Luncheon, each figure is given their own space with hardly any interaction. The verticle lines receding into the background not only give a greater sense of depth and interior space, but it leads the viewer’s eye to the open window on the back wall. The decorative metal on the balcony acts as a barrier, blocking them from the outside world.