The major exhibition this fall at Musée d'Orsay focuses on the Impressionist painter and patron Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) and his predilection for masculine forms and portraits of men.

A follower of the Realist movement in the arts of the second half of the 19th century, Caillebotte took his subjects from his surroundings: Haussmann's new Paris, suburban and holiday villas, male acquaintances - his brothers, employee workers, boating friends. He introduced new figures into his paintings: an urban worker, a man on a balcony, a sportsman, and even an intimate portrait of a male nude bathing. In an era when virility and republican fraternity prevailed, but traditional masculinity was also in crisis for the first time, these new, powerful images challenged the established order, both social and sexual.

The exhibition, which presents around 70 works, includes Caillebotte's most important paintings of people, as well as pastels, sketches, photographs, and documents. Three major masterpieces are for the first time brought together: Young Man at His Window (1876) from the Getty Museum, the recently acquired Boating Party (1877-78) from Musée d’Orsay and the celebrated Paris Street; Rainy Day (1877), on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago.