Yerres, Through the Grove, the Ornamental Farm 1878

Gustave Caillebotte painted “Yerres, Through the Grove, the Ornamental Farm” with oil on canvas, though the date is unknown. The painting shows a view of a French country estate through a group of trees, likely painted *en plein air*. Caillebotte was a fascinating figure, independently wealthy and a patron of many of his Impressionist colleagues. He was also an engineer by training. He used his family’s estate at Yerres as a kind of laboratory, where he developed his unique Impressionist style. The estate itself represented a changing social landscape, where the newly wealthy could enjoy a country lifestyle previously reserved for the aristocracy. Caillebotte’s Impressionist style with its interest in perception and opticality, speaks to the experience of observing and moving through this social world. To better understand Caillebotte, we might consult his correspondence, family records, or even architectural plans of the Yerres estate. This kind of social history shows us how art is embedded in a particular place, time and set of social conditions.