Viale sotto gli alberi

Caillebotte painted this avenue of trees around 1880. He was that rare thing among the Impressionists, a rich man who did not need to sell his work. Much of his energy and money went into keeping the group's exhibitions going, and the fifth of them opened in Paris that spring. His own paintings often turn on a deep, plunging perspective, a path or street rushing away from the viewer, so a receding line of trees suited his eye well. His family had lately sold their country estate at Yerres, where for years he had painted the shaded walks of its park. A picture like this keeps that habit of looking straight down a long green corridor into the distance.