Raboteurs de parquet

Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Scrapers) shows three workers scraping a wooden floor, probably in Caillebotte's own studio at 77, rue de Miromesnil, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Despite its adherence to certain classical values, the painting’s depiction of working-class subjects going about their business in a state of semi-undress was considered unacceptable by the jurors of the 1875 Salon. This rejection led Caillebotte to align himself firmly with the impressionists.

Gustave Caillebotte (1848–1894), Raboteurs de parquet, oil on canvas, 146,5 x 102 cm, 1875; source: Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF 2718, photographer/agency: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay)/ Hervé Lewandowski, http://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/01-003307-2C6NU0GMMTTA.html.