The Plain of Gennevilliers, Yellow Fields

Gustave Caillebotte produced a series of open landscape scenes in the plains of Gennevilliers in 1884 with many given the same individual title. This artwork can now be found at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia.

This series of paintings marked a point in Caillebotte's career where he was reducing landscapes scenes to almost minimalist proportions. The flat landscape in this region, combined with his choice of simple bands of colour leaves an almost abstract finish. At this stage Claude Monet was following a similar stylistic route and perhaps he influenced Caillebotte in this regard. Their love of the outdoors helped build a strong friendship and many similarities can be drawn between their careers, although academic approval was delivered at different levels, particularly during their own lifetimes.

In total, there were six in this series. They do not rank within his more famous paintings but still hold a great importance due to their location and also their artistic qualities. These plains were very close to the artist's home at Petit-Gennevilliers and he would produce a large amount of work in and around this region. It is around half an hour from Paris and offered him peace and quiet from the busy urban life which existed for him when in the French capital.