The Canoes

Les Périssoires (often rendered in English as The Canoes) is an 1878 oil painting by the French artist Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), a member and patron of the Impressionists who nonetheless painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group ^[1]. The work depicts a man in a hat paddling a périssoire — a narrow, lightweight canoe — on the river at Yerres, beneath broad-leaved trees ^[3]. It is held by the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, which records its dimensions as 155.5 × 108.5 cm ^[3].

Composition and technique: a photographer's framing of the Yerres

Caillebotte was known for his early interest in photography as an art form, and that interest shaped the unconventional framing and close-up action perspective found across his work ^[1]. In Les Périssoires, the canoe and its occupant are pushed to the foreground of the canvas, cropped by the picture's edge, while the riverbank recedes behind them. The composition draws on the artist's habit of depicting modern leisure subjects with a structured, almost mechanical sense of spatial arrangement — a quality that distinguished him from many of his Impressionist contemporaries ^[1].

The painting is executed in oil on canvas, in the genre of genre art — scenes of everyday life ^[3]. Its palette and brushwork engage with the Impressionist concern for capturing the effects of light on water, though Caillebotte's handling remains more deliberate and finished than the loose, spontaneous stroke associated with peers such as Claude Monet ^[1]. The subject of boating at Yerres recurs in several of his works from the late 1870s, a period when the artist divided his time between Paris and the family property on the Yerres river ^[1].

Provenance and reception: from private collection to Rennes

Caillebotte's reputation long rested on his philanthropy: because of his family's wealth, he was a patron of many of his fellow Impressionists, and upon his death his bequeathed collection of their works became the central collection of Impressionism for the French Republic, despite considerable controversy ^[1]. His own paintings, by contrast, drew wider attention only later — the Art Institute of Chicago acquired his best-known work, Paris Street; Rainy Day, in 1964, and his oeuvre received more notice in the 1970s ^[1]. He did not have an international retrospective until 1994, a century after his death ^[1].

The reference catalogue dates Les Périssoires to 1878 and places it in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes ^[3]. In 2022, France secured possession of another Caillebotte boating scene, Boating Party, through a National treasure of France declaration process, underscoring the continued national interest in the artist's river subjects ^[1].

Frequently asked questions

Who painted Les Périssoires, and when?

It was painted by Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists ^[1]. The reference catalogue dates the work to 1878 ^[3].

Where is Les Périssoires today?

The painting is in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, which records its dimensions as 155.5 × 108.5 cm ^[3].

How does this work relate to Caillebotte's better-known paintings?

Caillebotte is best known for Paris Street; Rainy Day, acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1964, and for Boating Party, which France secured in 2022 through a National treasure declaration ^[1]. Les Périssoires shares the boating subject and close-up perspective of Boating Party, and reflects the artist's early interest in photography as an art form ^[1].