celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Literature and art / Gustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused…
Case file s1782 · Literature and art · 1894
See 1894 on the timelineSee it in 3D
1894
Gustave Caillebotte: Gustave Caillebotte photo c1878
Gustave Caillebotte. Anonymous photographer. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
21 February 1894
Place
Gennevilliers, France
Field
painting (Impressionism) · Visual art and architecture on the timeline
Legal tradition
French civil law · Civil law
Historical event
State acceptance of Impressionism
Member of
Q2946492 (Wikidata)
Literature and artIndustry and empireEuropeFrance

Gustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused part and hung 38 in 1897

Gustave Caillebotte died in 1894, leaving his Impressionist collection to the French state and naming Renoir executor. His brother Martial pressed with Renoir for the conditions of the bequest to be kept. The Musée d'Orsay describes it as a delicate matter. The state accepted the gift but the Musée du Luxembourg had no room, and the state agreed to keep a selection of about 40 works. The state refused a share of the works. One source counts 28 refused in 1894 and again in 1904 and 1908†. Counts of the total differ by source: more than 60 (NCFS Journal), 68 (a blog) or 72 (Anne Distel, as cited by the Orsay)†. In 1897 the state showed 38 works in a new annex of the Luxembourg. The Orsay holds 38 Impressionist works from the bequest in 2026†, with Monet the artist best represented, at eight accepted. Degas, Cézanne, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley are among those named in the gift†.

What the law took from it

A bequest to the state can be accepted in part, so conditions in a will must say what happens to the works the state refuses.

Sources
  1. musee-orsay.frPress
  2. musee-orsay.frPress
  3. ncfs-journal.orgPress
  4. johnpwalshblog.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Gustave Caillebotte left France more than 60 Impressionist works in 1894; the state refused part and hung 38 in 1897,” story s1782, https://www.celebrity.estate/gustave-caillebotte-1894, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Bram Stoker: Bram Stoker 19061912 · LondonBram Stoker's widow sued over Nosferatu, and a German court ordered every copy of the film destroyedShared: also Literature and art; 18 years apart; also EuropeStoker died with modest means, and Dracula's royalties were his widow Florence's main income. In 1922 the German company Prana Film released Nosferatu, an unauthorised adaptation of Dracula. Florence sued.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 moreGustav Klimt: Klimt1918 · Vienna, AustriaAfter Gustav Klimt died in 1918, the mothers of his children claimed support from his estate and were paid 4,000 to 10,000 crowns eachShared: also Literature and art; 24 years apart; also EuropeGustav Klimt died in Vienna in February 1918 after a stroke. He never married. He paid monthly allowances to the mothers of several children. Documented are six children by three women, two of whom died young.klimt-database.com and 4 moreJules Verne: Photograph of Jules Verne by Félix Nadar1905 · Amiens, FranceJules Verne's son rewrote his posthumous novels, and Verne's lost 1863 novel stayed in a locked safe until his great-grandson forced it open in 1989Shared: also Literature and art; 11 years apart; also EuropeAfter Verne died in 1905, his son Michel and publisher Hetzel's house brought out the remaining manuscripts as posthumous novels.depauw.edu and 3 moreÉmile Zola: Nadar (atelier de) - Emile Zola, 13-5565351902 · Paris, FranceA 1953 newspaper said a chimney sweep blocked Émile Zola's flue in 1902, and the Panthéon ceremony for his remains ended with a gunman wounding DreyfusShared: also Literature and art; 8 years apart; also EuropeÉmile Zola died in his Paris apartment on 29 September 1902, aged 62, of carbon monoxide from a chimney that was not drawing. The death was ruled accidental.historytoday.com and 3 moreAI illustration: Manuscripts and diaries burning in a fireplace in a Trieste house, 18901890 · Trieste, Austria-HungaryRichard Burton's widow burned his manuscript of The Scented Garden and his diaries after he diedShared: also Literature and art; 4 years apart; also EuropeSir Richard Burton translated the Arabian Nights. When he died he was revising a translation of the Arabic erotic text The Perfumed Garden, retitled The Scented Garden, with extensive notes.grolierclub.omeka.net and 2 moreVincent van Gogh: Self-Portrait title QS:P1476,en:"Self-Portrait "label QS:Len,"Self-Portrait "label QS:Les,"Autorretrato"label QS:Lnds,"S1890 · Auvers-sur-Oise, FranceVan Gogh's brother died six months after him, and Theo's widow built the reputation from the paintings she inheritedShared: also Literature and art; 4 years apart; also EuropeVincent van Gogh sold very little in his lifetime. His brother Theo, an art dealer who had supported him, died in January 1891.vangoghmuseum.nl and 3 more

Where this case sits

Literature and artIndustry and empireEuropeCivil lawFrance