Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets

Gustave Caillebotte is known for a realist style that broke from the heavy, visible brushstrokes of his contemporaries. This drawing is a study for the figure of Eugène Lamy, a close friend of the artist with whom he is seen in conversation in the 1893 painting <em>Bank of the Seine at Petit Gennevilliers, Winter </em>(private collection). Using sketchy, diagonal marks, Caillebotte recorded light and shadow on Lamy’s jacket, aligning with the Impressionists’ interest in capturing natural effects and fleeting moments from everyday life.