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Paris. Cafés, amis et impressions
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
Yerres, Centre of the village
Gustave Caillebotte. 1888
PLAY ME
Yerres,
located in the southern suburbs of Paris, owes its fame to me
as a painter and patron. Many years ago, during a trip to Italy with my father, I discovered painting and became fascinated by it. After his death, I had a considerable fortune and became a point of reference and support for many painters. I was one of the first to realise that photography was the best way to document everyday life.
I decided to give my paintings a photographic slant, without the explosion of colours that characterised my friends' school. I portrayed the characters in motion, in their full naturalness, without filters or poses. Even when I was staring at the motionless image of a man looking out onto a balcony above the streets of Paris, I was filming him anonymously,
with his back turned, as if in a shot taken suddenly from behind. I didn't like the poses; I didn't think they were natural or spontaneous at all. Unlike my colleagues, I did not need to sell the work I created. Instead, I helped financially the friends who were most in need, such as Monet, who was always without money,
and to whom I regularly paid the rent of the flat in rue Saint Lazare, in the centre of Paris. Or I would buy their paintings to support them. In the end, I put together a collection of sixty-eight works, including paintings by Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas, Cézanne and Manet.
Sezione 3
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