Portrait of a Man

Among Gustave Caillebotte’s most celebrated works are his views of modern Paris seen from balconies and terraces, a theme that first appeared in his paintings of the mid-1870s. This painting depicts a middle-aged man sitting in room and looking toward a window with laced curtains. His fashionable suit and bow tie are markers of his social status as a <em>flâneur</em> of the urban bourgeoisie. Rather than wearing an expression of joy or delight, the sunlight raking across his face accentuates his heavily lidded eyes and sagging facial muscles, giving him a deeply contemplative expression as he gazes at the world from the comfort of his sumptuous apartment.