Rue du Mont-Cenis, Montmartre

Rue du Mont-Cenis, Montmartre (1880) depicts the winding streets of Montmartre hill, an area of Paris that had not been transformed by Haussmann's urban renewal to the same degree as the central arrondissements. Montmartre's older, irregular street pattern contrasted sharply with the grand new boulevards of central Paris, and its village character made it a distinct visual environment. Caillebotte's interest in urban topography — the specific character of different Parisian neighborhoods — extended from the formal Haussmann districts to this more informal, working-class hillside community.

The winding street provides a more irregular, organic perspective than the formal geometric recession of Haussmann's boulevards, challenging Caillebotte to adapt his precise spatial management to a less geometrically ordered environment. Figures on the hill street, the buildings closing in on both sides, and the ascending slope create a different quality of urban space from his more celebrated boulevard scenes.