Paris was the center of the movement that came to be known as Impressionism and its many facets appeared on the canvases of the practitioners. Pierre-Auguste Renoir depicted many aspects of life on the fringes of Paris, the leisure and daily life of the working class, especially in his neighborhood of Montmartre. How and why did the public react so strongly to the images that we now see as somewhat light and sweet? We will consider the fashion and the color that is shown as well as other markers of modernity. In comparison, Edgar Degas sought out other venues of modernity. We will focus on images of dance and performance, in the cabaret and at the ballet of the Opera. Gustave Caillebotte depicts the architecture and the workmen of the Opera district of the city, the area around his apartment at Rue Halévy and on his strolls, at sites where population groups intersected such as the Pont Neuf. (Despite its name, this was the oldest standing bridge when he painted it!) Caillebotte also leads us to consider the rise of shopping as a element of modern life and as depicted in the canvases of the Impressionists.
: Halévy Street, View from the Sixth Floor (La Rue Halévy, Vue Du Sixième Étage) by Gustave Caillebotte, 1878