Fans of Caspar David Friedrich’s great masterpiece “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” will be familiar with the imagery of a man gazing out at the world before him.
It can be taken as a symbol for being “king of all we survey” - or as a reminder of the astonishing beauty of nature - or, indeed, as a metaphor for the sheer terror we can sometimes feel when looking out at a future that is so uncertain.
But no matter what we may read into such a painting, there is no denying that it inspires a great deal of personal reflection about our own place in this world.
And in many ways, today’s painting by Gustav Caillebotte achieves just the same - only here, our central figure is not looking out at a sublime landscape, but, rather, at a little corner of Paris.
It is a beautiful, bright day in the city. The kind which we imagine feels so full of promise and opportunity.
And the man featured here is actually Gustav’s younger brother René Caillebotte - standing in the family home in the Rue de Miromesnil.
But again, much like with Friedrich’s Wanderer, Gustav wants us to see his figure as a kind of “every man” instead - i.e someone without identity, who we can all relate to.
And so, there is not going to be a single “correct” narrative here. Rather, we are each invited to come up with our own individual ideas of who this man could be, and what he might be thinking as he gazes out of this window.
Perhaps he is full of hope at all the prospects that Parisian life has in store for him? And, in running his eyes over the streets below, up towards the rooftops above - maybe he is inspired by the idea that, one day, he will make enough money to buy an entire penthouse in this increasingly affluent neighbourhood.
But of course, the exact opposite could also be just as true. And perhaps in this quiet moment of reflection, our man is feeling a tinge of uncertainty instead - as if the world is moving on too fast without him.
Or fear, that he may have missed his chance to achieve the dreams of his youth.
Or an increasing sense of claustrophobia - as if all these buildings are like prison walls, and, deep down, he would really rather be out there in the heart of nature . . . just as Friedrich’s Wanderer above the sea of fog had once been.
In truth, only René himself will know the ultimate answers here. (And even Gustav himself, while painting this picture, must have similarly found himself wondering what his brother was really thinking about it all)
But as always- I want to encourage all of you today to stop for a moment today (just as René himself has) . . . and ask yourself the questions:
What could he be thinking about?
And, if you were in his position too . . . would you feel the same?
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I appreciate the way you drew a comparison to the Friedrich. It had not occurred to me and adds a wonderful additional dimension to the Caillebotte painting. Each one, at least to me, feels strongly contemplative: Where do I fit in all this? What is it I want to be?
Hey, I’ve long liked this picture, indeed it was my profile picture here until I changed to my photo.
I think there are many things in it that capture my imagination: as you say, the quality of looking and thinking is intriguing, the guy’s stance, the depiction of the arrondissement, the capture of one moment and a whole emotional state, the sense of the interior of the apartment and the exterior of the street capturing the interiority of the guy and his external presentation, the woman crossing the road (sometimes I wonder whether there is a connection between them, other times not at all), the sense of an historical period which was contemporary to Caillebotte but the past to us. So much.
Thank you for your discussion of it. I really liked it.