Monet … Degas … Renoir. When we think of French Impressionism, it’s the usual suspects who spring to mind. But one lesser-known artist is ripe for rediscovery.

“Gustave Caillebotte is probably the least-known of the Impressionist painters,” said Gloria Groom, co-curator of a new exhibition of the works of Caillebotte, now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. “I think he’s still not completely integrated into that story. He’s still kind of the outsider.”

The museum has long been home to the artist’s most recognizable painting, “Paris Street – Rainy Day.”

“People, they may not know Gustave Caillebotte’s name, but if you say the painting with the umbrellas, they all know it,” said Groom. “And so you start thinking, okay, it’s all about this bourgeois couple walking down the street. But it’s not, because there’s a painter with a ladder, the charwoman who’s opening her umbrella, all these different types of people.”

“Paris Street – Rainy Day” played a supporting role in the beloved movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. While it was out on loan, museum-goers were bereft. “We got letters,” said Groom. “But you can’t be part of an exhibition to be a partner if you don’t lend the major work for the exhibition. So, we made that sacrifice. And now we’re celebrating its return.”

The exhibition looks at Caillebotte’s work from a new perspective. While his peers were painting ballerinas and landscapes, Caillebotte’s canvases focused on men to a degree unusual for the time.

Groom said, “He’s looking at the men in his life, he’s looking at the relationships. But he’s not just doing, you know, macho masculinity. He’s doing men in interiors, men on sofas, men looking out a window, kind of turning the tables in many ways.”

Some of the paintings scandalized the French art establishment. “The Floor Scrapers” was rejected from a prestigious art exhibition.

And, at another exhibition, a painting featuring a nude man was relegated to a small, inaccessible room. “It’s a male nude, but not an Adonis,” said Groom. “It’s shocking even today. It’s a beautiful, beautiful painting, and it’s sensuous. Let’s face it, it’s sensuous!”

When this exhibition opened in Paris last year with the title “Painting Men,” some critics condemned what they considered the show’s insinuation of Caillebotte’s homosexuality. The artist never married, but shared the last decade or so of his life with a female companion.

But the show moved on to Chicago with a new title – “Painting His World” – which has others saying the changed title minimizes the artist’s focus on the same sex.

Gloria Groom says, quite simply, the paintings speak for themselves: “The paintings are the paintings, and that’s what we’re interested in. We try to open it up to all kinds of interpretations, and people will see what they want to see.”

Gustave Caillebotte died in 1894. He was just 45. All these decades later, people are still seeing what they want to in his beguiling artistry.

      
For more info:

• Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World, at the Art Institute of Chicago (through Oct. 5)
• Exhibition catalogue: “Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men,” edited by Scott Allan, Gloria Groom and Paul Perrin (J. Paul Getty Museum), in Hardcover, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Paris Street; Rainy Day,” 1877. The Art Institute of Chicago, Charles H. and Mary F. Worcester Collection
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Floor Scrapers,” 1875. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Caillebotte heirs through Auguste Renoir, 1894. Photo courtesy of Musée d’Orsay, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn/Franck Raux
• Gustave Caillebotte. “Man at His Bath,” 1884. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum purchase with funds by exchange from an Anonymous gift, Bequest of William A. Coolige, Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, and from the Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, Fanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin, Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund, Gift of Mrs. Samuel Parkman Oliver – Eliza R. Oliver Fund, Sophie F. Friedman Fund, Robert M. Rosenberg Family Fund, and funds donated in honor of George T.M. Shackelford, Chair, Art of Europe, and Arthur K. Solomon Curator of Modern Art 1996–2011. Photo © 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Footage courtesy of Musée d’Orsay Digital Department/YouBLive

     
Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Steven Tyler. 

     
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The pair, who first starred together in the 1998 adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s novel, will reprise their roles as witch sisters Gillian and Sally Owens in the long-awaited sequel. 

In the clip posted to Instagram, Kidman and Bullock are seen laughing and skipping through a field at sunset, set to Stevie Nicks’ re-recorded version of Crystal, a track featured in the original film’s soundtrack.

Kidman captioned the post as, “That’s a wrap on Practical Magic 2! Thank you to the cast & crew for all your magic.”

Moreover, the new film, set for release on September 18, 2026, will see the return of Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing as Aunt Jet and Aunt Frances, alongside newcomers Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, and Solly McLeod.

However, one original cast member will not be returning. 

Evan Rachel Wood, who played Sally’s daughter Kylie in the first film, revealed she was not asked to reprise her role despite offering to participate.

Plot details remain under wraps, though reports suggest the story will draw from a later installment in Hoffman’s Practical Magic book series. Director Susanne Bier will helm the project.

Reflecting on the sequel earlier this year, Kidman said she and Bullock had long hoped to continue the story, “When we were making it [the original], we definitely did. We’re so excited. Yes, yes, beyond excited. You heard our spell—we put out our spell already.”

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Sources with the LAPD told NBC4 Investigates that the unfortunate incident occurred on Thursday when an individual made their way into the Oscar winner’s property through an open gate.

The suspect proceeded to steal a BMW and at the time with the key fob being inside the vehicle but the LAPD were able to track down the actress’s car as they searched for the suspect involved in theft.

Charlize is the latest celebrity who has fallen victim to a crime in Los Angeles – with Tracee Ellis Ross, Brad Pitt and Lionel Richie along with others being victims as well.

Just a week before this unfortunate incident occurred at the Atomic Blonde talent’s L.A home, she had enjoyed a rare outing to Disneyland with her eldest child, Jackson.

Charlize was also accompanied by a group of Jackson’s close friends as all of them had the time of their lives at the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

The group were seen enjoying different tasty snacks inside of the amusement park before going on to have fun on a number of rides there.

It is pertinent to mention that Charlize Theron adopted Jackson back in 2012 and another child named August, in 2015.