The Portrait That Set Gustave Caillebotte's Auction Record

Gustave Caillebotte's Jeune homme à sa fenêtre (1876) sold for $53.03m at Christie's in New York on November 11, 2021. The oil on canvas work had been traded 3 times in the past.

Caillebotte (1848-1894) was a young artist when his striking portait of a well-dressed young man at a balcony looking down onto a Parisian street went on display at the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876. His work impressed the critics and public alike.

Ten years later, the portrait impressed US critics when it went on show in the country's first large-scale exhibition of Impressionist works, which was staged at the American Art Galleries and National Academy of Design in New York.

It is believed that Caillebotte based his painting on one of his two younger brothers, René, who died the year it was completed. Not much is known about him other than he left behind a pile of debts.

Caillebotte, who was independently wealthy, supported his contemporaries including Monet, Degas, and Pissarro by collecting their work.

It was acquired by the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the painting is the centerpiece of a major Caillebotte show that traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago in June 2025. The three-venue exhibition was co-organized with the Getty, where it went on show after opening at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 2024.

The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $30.81m, a 125% rise. His previous record was set by Chemin Montant (1881), which sold for $22.22m at Christie's on February 27, 2019.

A Brief History of Gustave Caillebotte at Auction