The Boulevard Viewed from Above 1880

Curator: Looking at Gustave Caillebotte's "The Boulevard Viewed from Above" from 1880, I'm struck by how calm and ordered it feels. Like a perfect little stage. Editor: Calm? I see voyeurism! A god-like gaze, perhaps slightly unsettling. That perspective from above flattens the scene and emphasizes the geometry. It's more alienating than calm, for me. Curator: Interesting! Caillebotte often played with unusual perspectives, like in this bird's-eye view of a Parisian boulevard. It's such an odd, destabilizing choice for an impressionist landscape, I suppose, which were traditionally plein-air! I feel, somehow, that choice has more to do with asserting control over his painting, more to do with painting something *that looks real* and slightly less to do with the emotional state such plein-air painters like Monet sought. What is his perspective really achieving in making such a claim on such a traditional scene? Editor: Exactly! It distances us. We’re looking down on these little figures going about their day. Caillebotte uses that high vantage point to comment on the increasing urban planning and bourgeois experience in late 19th-century Paris. Note, it's as if *the city is arranged for him, as a gift*. And who are the "beneficiaries" of that arrangement? I'm just not convinced that Caillebotte is one of those people he is showing off for us in this arrangement. I almost feel as if he doesn't belong, as much as the people he's painting. Curator: Well, as much as he could not belong, he did very much belong to it: he actually inherited a substantial fortune and then financed several Impressionist exhibitions! He was part and parcel. But he certainly was wrestling with ways of portraying life in his period. And, in a sense, painting from such a perspective might have allowed for, dare I say, "the freedom" to capture such fleeting moments, to immortalize everyday life? Do you find yourself admiring his style and the subject of capturing those details? I think they are remarkable. Editor: Admiring his skills, undoubtedly. The way he renders light filtering through the leaves, for example, that impressionistic touch, it's wonderful! But I remain critical of the social implications, the detached viewpoint. Still, the painting makes us ask some tough questions about what is involved in a painting and who are the beneficiaries. It continues to provoke. Curator: Agreed. It's a captivating clash of perspective, technique, and social commentary all at once! Editor: Precisely. "The Boulevard Viewed from Above": a scene, a viewpoint, and a statement, elegantly crafted.