Rooftop View (Snow effect), Gustave Caillebotte
On the Google Art Project. Original is in the Musée d’Orsay. There is also a high res image (7.7mb) and short article on Wikipedia.
One of my favorite paintings. By anyone. Ever.
You’ll see versions of this image on the web, or even in print, in which the color has been exaggerated to the point where the chimneys are bright red — sorry, wrong.
Here’s a clue for the people who like to do that kind of thing (presumably to make the images “prettier”): the Impressionists weren’t deliberately seeking to use “bright color” for its own sake; their use of sometimes brilliant color was a result of their search for the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere.
Just as often, though less frequently highlighted in books and reproductions, their paintings were about fog, mist, atmosphere and subtle color. They were capturing the effects of light in the natural world, as affected by time of day, season and weather. Caillebotte gives you a clue right in the sub-title of his painting: Vue de toits (Effet de neige) — “(snow effect)“.
