Raboteurs de parquet

In his first major work, Caillebotte intentionally puts the viewer off-kilter. The raised horizon line and off-centre vanishing point warp space; the floor looms up and the raboteurs almost topple forward. This vertigo focuses our attention on the physical labour of the raboteurs, famous even among the building trades for their exceptionally sweaty métier. Counterbalancing bodily empathy with physical labour is an intellectual curiosity which manifests in visual detail, in the minutely-rendered wood shavings, calloused hands, and specialised tools. As we feel bodily the raboteurs’ exertions, we become aware of Caillebotte’s labours in constructing the scene; as we admire their know-how, we are reminded of Caillebotte’s artistic skill. Caillebotte is situating his own professional identity, still under construction in 1875, in relation to these ouvriers; he signs his name to the very floor on which they collectively work.