![Gustave Caillebotte - The Orange Trees [1878]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7649/26302300834_1ee25ab230_b.jpg)
Caillebotte painted this canvas en plein air at the family's country estate in Yerres in 1878. The image depicts a daytime scene. Caillebotte's brother Martial is reading while sitting in the shade of the orange trees with his back towards the viewer. The lightweight painted sprung-steel garden chairs in the foreground appear in other works painted at Yerres, and can be seen in a contemporaneous photograph of the estate. In the background, the bright sunlight illuminates a circular flower bed surrounded by a curving gravel path, at the edge of which a dog appears to be sleeping. The shadows are painted in muted greens and purples, while the lawn and flower beds are brilliant greens, reds and whites. The strong definition between the areas of sunlight and shadow is a departure from the dappled light that occurs in similar outdoor scenes by Impressionists Renoir and Monet.
[Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Oil on canvas, 155 x 117 cm]