1850 -1924 · Paris, suburbs, impressionist exhibitions and travel

Wave terrain, winter streets and marginal figures make Jean-François Raffaëlli the incisive chronicler of Paris and its outskirts.

Jean-François Raffaëlli was born in Paris in 1850. After beginnings linked to theater and brief training in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme, he exhibited at the Salon but quickly sought subjects outside of academic painting. The Parisian suburbs become his laboratory. Fortifications, wastelands, muddy roads, ragpickers, small trades and old people give an image of modernity far from the brilliant boulevards. Edgar Degas invited him to the impressionist exhibitions of 1880 and 1881. His presence sparked debate there, because Raffaëlli constructed his figures more through drawing and social characterization than through luminous sensation alone. This difference, however, makes it so strength. In a Street Scene in winter, snow, silhouettes and light facades describe the cold, walking and distance at the same time. The suburban landscape with horse and carriage shows the unstable border between countryside and city: road, bare terrain and vehicle tell of a transforming periphery. The Flower Seller transforms a modest profession into a portrait of presence and movement. The Flower Seller also paints monumental Paris, notably the Place de la Concorde, Notre-Dame and the bridges, but retains a dry touch and a taste for gray air. Portraitist of Edmond de Goncourt, Huysmans and Clemenceau, he also paints monumental Paris, notably the Place de la Concorde, Notre-Dame and the bridges, but retains a dry touch and a taste for gray air. Portraitist of Edmond de Goncourt, Notre-Dame and the bridges, but retains a dry touch and a taste for gray air. Portraitist of Edmond de Goncourt, Notre-Dame and the bridges, but retains a dry touch and a taste for gray air. Portraitist of Edmond de Goncourt, Notre-Dame and the bridges, but retains a dry touch and a taste for gray air. Portraitist of Edmond de At the same time, he developed color engraving, illustration, sculpture and conferences, then traveled to the United States. Died in Paris in 1924, he left a work that united social observation, modern city and graphic research. The "Jean-François Raffaëlli" selection notably compares Street Scene - Winter and Suburban Landscape. His reading favors figures.

Raffaëlli chooses the edges: edge of the city, edge of the road, edge of society. This is where the modern landscape most clearly reveals its transformations.