Study of a Man with Hands in His Pockets

Gustave Caillebotte is known for a realist style that broke from the heavy, visible brushstrokes of his contemporaries. This drawing is a study for the figure of Eugène Lamy, a close friend of the artist with whom he is seen in conversation in the 1893 painting Bank of the Seine at Petit Gennevilliers, Winter (private collection). Using sketchy, diagonal marks, Caillebotte recorded light and shadow on Lamy’s jacket, aligning with the Impressionists’ interest in capturing natural effects and fleeting moments from everyday life.