Notre Dame of Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris presented every Impressionist painter with both a famous subject and the challenge of making it fresh. By the time Guillaumin painted this undated view of the cathedral, now at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro, the building's profile from the quais had been painted by Jongkind, Monet, and others, and the question was whether the Impressionist approach of attending to light and atmosphere rather than architectural inventory could transform a heavily known subject into something direct and personal. Guillaumin's approach — treating the cathedral's limestone bulk as a colour and tonal mass seen in specific light conditions — was consistent with his general practice of treating all subjects, however prestigious or humble, with the same observational directness. The canvas's presence in the Rio collection reflects the Latin American acquisition of European Impressionism in the early and mid twentieth century.

Oil on canvas with Guillaumin's handling applied to the architecturally complex subject of the cathedral's exterior. The building is treated as a play of light on limestone rather than an archaeological or iconographic document — light falling across the facade creates zones of warm and cool that the painting records directly. The Seine in the foreground provides the reflective surface and horizontal counterpoint that Guillaumin relied on for structural balance in his Paris views.