Os Raspadores de Parquet

Caillebotte finished this in 1875 and sent it to the Salon, the official show that could make a young painter's name. The jury turned it away. The trouble was the subject. Three workmen, stripped to the waist, on their knees scraping the varnish off a parquet floor, was thought a vulgar thing to hang on a gallery wall, the sort of manual labour art was supposed to keep out. So he showed it the next year with the Impressionists instead. He was wealthy, and this is his own apartment being renovated. Notice how carefully he drew it, the long lines of the floorboards running back to the window, the curls of shaving catching the light near their hands.