Young Man at His Window

Caillebotte portrays his brother René in the family’s newly built apartment building in the 8th arrondissement of Paris . A work of plunging architectural perspective, exacting detail, and vibrant lighting, Gustave Caillebotte ’s painting represented the latest in modern urban realism when it debuted.

Young Man at His Window also represents a pivotal moment in Caillebotte’s early career. He exhibited it to acclaim at the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876, when he was 27 years old. It was his public debut as a painter, and among his submissions, this painting received the most critical acclaim, after his famous The Floor Scrapers (1875; Musée d’Orsay, Paris).