Square in Argenteuil

Square in Argenteuil (1883, Hammer Museum) was painted during Caillebotte's period of transition, when he was spending increasing time at the river town of Argenteuil — the same stretch of the Seine that had drawn Monet and Renoir a decade earlier. Argenteuil represented the intersection of the industrial and the pastoral in the modern landscape north of Paris, with factories and sailboats coexisting on the same river. Caillebotte's depiction of the town's public spaces extends his urban observation from Paris's Haussmann boulevards to the mixed character of the suburban riverine town.

The square composition likely deploys Caillebotte's characteristic interest in public space and its organization — the geometry of paths, fences, and architectural elements creating the structural framework within which figures or landscape elements are placed. His handling in 1883 is moving toward a looser, more Impressionist touch than his rigorous early work.