Boulevard Haussmann, effet de neige

This 1880 canvas shows the Boulevard Haussmann under snow — Caillebotte's own street, where he lived in an apartment at No. 31. Unlike his celebrated street-level views of Parisian boulevards with their vertiginous perspective, this snow scene looks down from a window into a quiet winter tableau, the snow muffling the city's usual activity. Caillebotte's apartment on the Boulevard Haussmann, which he painted from repeatedly in the late 1870s and early 1880s, gave him a private urban observatory for studying city light and weather. The snow transforms the familiar commercial boulevard into a world of refined geometry and muted colour.

The snow scene uses a restricted, cool palette of grey-whites, blue shadows, and the warm ochre of building facades glimpsed above the snow-covered rooftops or boulevard. The viewpoint is slightly elevated, looking down or across to the snow-covered street and rooflines. Brushwork is crisp and precise in Caillebotte's characteristic manner, giving the snow surface clear geometric structure.