Paris Street; Rainy Day

1877 · Art Institute of Chicago, 1964.336

The title says rain. Did it rain in Paris in the months the picture could have been painted?

65of the 94 days before the painting was first shown had rain at Paris-Montsouris.

“Temps de pluie” partially agreesDay unknown

The records Look closer at the painting

The Nephos method

How this study was read

The method in full

1
What is written
The rue de Turin at the rue de Moscou, Paris, 1877, finished before the exhibition opened on 4 April.
- Rue de Paris; temps de pluieThe painting’s title in the 1877 exhibition catalogue, as the Art Institute of Chicago records it
- the intersection made by the rue de Turin and the rue de Moscou.Critics in 1877, quoted by the Art Institute of Chicago
- As the work is dated 1877 and was first exhibited in April of that year in the third Impressionist exhibitionArt Institute of Chicago scholarly catalogue
2
Records of those days
- Paris-Montsouris rain gauge and thermometerMétéo-France daily rain, lowest and highest temperature. 6.6 km from the crossing, now the place de Dublin.
Not found or not yet searched
- Paris newspapers for early 1877 have not yet been searched: the Gallica archive blocked an automated search on 23 September 2026.
- No dated letter from Caillebotte about the weather has been located.
3
Each claim tested
- “temps de pluie”, rainy weather in a Paris street. Between 1 January and 4 April 1877 rain fell at Montsouris on 65 of 94 days, 40 of them with at least 1 mm: 164.7 mm in all. The wettest day was 20 March, with 19.5 mm. The 1991–2020 average is 29.7 such days and 140.8 mm.
- “the hint of sun after the rain”, the museum catalogue’s reading of the light once the painting was cleaned. The station kept no sunshine record, and rain fell on so many days that no single one stands out. Kirk Varnedoe, quoted in the same catalogue, saw “almost shadowless grey light”.
- The day painted. The catalogue describes an on-site sketch and a canvas probably worked on the studio wall; no session is dated.
4
Verdict
- Partially agrees“temps de pluie” Rain fell on most days the painting could have been made, 6.6 km away; no record ties the painted rain to a day.
- Unknown“the hint of sun after the rain” No sunshine or cloud was recorded, so the light cannot be tested.
- UnknownThe day painted. The painting was composed from a sketch; no day can be picked.

What this cannot tell you. The Montsouris gauge stands on the southern edge of Paris, not at the street corner. A count of wet days describes a season; it cannot date a scene. The painting was composed in stages, so its weather may combine more than one day.

Step 2 · Records of those days

Ninety-four days at Montsouris

The painting is signed 1877 and hung in the third Impressionist exhibition, which opened on 4 April 1877. So it was finished inside these 94 days. Each bar is one day’s rain in the Paris-Montsouris gauge, 6.6 km from the crossing Caillebotte painted, now the place de Dublin. No day is missing.

Météo-France daily record, station 75114001. A thin mark under the line is a dry day. The warmest afternoon was 4 April, 22.2 °C.

65: days with any rain, of 94
40: days with at least 1 mm
164.7: mm in all
−6.2: °C, the coldest morning, 12 March

Every day, rain and temperature

1877	Rain, mm	Lowest, °C	Highest, °C
1 January	0.0	8.5	13.5
2 January	0.4	6.5	10.7
3 January	0.0	7.8	13.7
4 January	7.4	7.1	11.6
5 January	2.4	6.6	10.8
6 January	1.2	5.7	11.4
7 January	4.1	7.7	14.1
8 January	0.4	7.9	15.5
9 January	0.0	8.1	14.9
10 January	0.4	7.1	14.4
11 January	1.7	5.0	9.4
12 January	0.1	1.6	6.5
13 January	0.1	0.2	5.2
14 January	3.2	2.1	9.3
15 January	0.6	3.6	9.4
16 January	0.0	−0.9	8.5
17 January	2.6	1.8	8.2
18 January	0.2	4.9	9.0
19 January	0.1	5.9	13.1
20 January	1.6	4.6	9.5
21 January	0.0	−1.4	3.6
22 January	0.0	−1.9	1.3
23 January	0.0	−4.9	6.0
24 January	0.0	−5.6	2.4
25 January	2.4	−1.2	9.1
26 January	1.4	0.9	6.4
27 January	0.6	−1.4	5.3
28 January	5.2	4.1	11.8
29 January	0.2	2.5	8.8
30 January	5.6	3.5	8.7
31 January	0.3	2.6	8.5
1 February	5.9	3.6	10.3
2 February	0.0	6.5	12.7
3 February	0.6	3.5	11.1
4 February	0.8	1.9	10.0
5 February	0.0	−1.6	8.8
6 February	0.0	4.9	11.2
7 February	0.6	8.0	13.5
8 February	3.1	5.0	12.3
9 February	0.3	6.3	11.9
10 February	0.0	7.8	12.3
11 February	0.0	7.8	10.9
12 February	3.6	5.8	12.0
13 February	6.7	7.7	13.9
14 February	0.0	9.8	12.6
15 February	0.0	5.2	13.3
16 February	2.4	4.2	8.4
17 February	0.0	0.6	9.8
18 February	0.0	3.3	9.8
19 February	4.6	5.9	8.7
20 February	7.1	2.1	7.8
21 February	0.6	1.5	6.7
22 February	2.5	0.4	6.3
23 February	0.1	1.0	4.1
24 February	0.4	0.9	8.3
25 February	1.4	7.7	11.4
26 February	1.0	2.7	10.7
27 February	1.2	−0.7	8.3
28 February	0.0	−3.3	3.5
1 March	0.0	−2.6	4.8
2 March	2.5	−0.8	5.0
3 March	0.1	4.5	11.6
4 March	2.3	5.4	10.2
5 March	0.9	3.6	8.2
6 March	2.7	0.1	6.7
7 March	1.7	−0.2	4.9
8 March	0.4	0.0	6.1
9 March	0.0	−0.9	4.6
10 March	0.0	−3.6	2.8
11 March	0.0	−4.8	1.9
12 March	0.1	−6.2	5.7
13 March	0.8	5.1	11.3
14 March	0.9	7.6	10.4
15 March	0.0	6.6	11.9
16 March	2.0	5.6	11.8
17 March	3.7	2.1	10.7
18 March	0.0	−0.5	9.7
19 March	0.0	0.4	9.5
20 March	19.5	2.6	12.3
21 March	1.8	1.5	7.5
22 March	0.0	−0.1	7.6
23 March	5.4	−0.9	9.2
24 March	2.7	4.0	11.0
25 March	5.5	5.0	11.9
26 March	4.0	5.5	11.0
27 March	7.2	4.5	12.0
28 March	0.0	3.2	15.8
29 March	1.8	8.9	17.6
30 March	4.5	7.8	15.7
31 March	0.0	3.8	15.1
1 April	0.0	5.0	12.6
2 April	0.2	8.3	14.5
3 April	1.9	5.3	17.6
4 April	7.0	8.2	22.2

Step 3 · The claim tested

1877 against 152 years

The same 94 days in every year from 1873 to 2024. 13 years had more rain days than 1877 and one other had as many. The 1991–2020 average is 29.7. A wet start to 1877, then, but not an exceptional one.

Days with at least 1 mm between 1 January and 4 April; 29 February is left out so every year counts the same 94 days.

Step 4 · Why the verdict stops at the season

What a rain gauge cannot reach

The museum’s catalogue describes a picture composed in stages, and two readings of its light. Neither can be checked against a gauge that measured rain once a day.

“the initial on-site stage of Caillebotte’s sketch”
Art Institute of Chicago, scholarly catalogue

“the most logical arrangement would have been to tack the loose canvas to the studio wall”
Art Institute of Chicago, scholarly catalogue

“the hint of sun after the rain”
The same catalogue, on the light after the painting was cleaned

“The almost shadowless grey light of the sky”
Kirk Varnedoe, quoted in the same catalogue

Sources

Every source on this page

Each file was downloaded and given a fingerprint (its sha256). The page is rebuilt from these files and will not build if a fingerprint changes, so every number above comes from them rather than being typed in.

Météo-France daily climatological data, Paris, before 1949Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 · retrieved 20 September 2026sha256 04ccefd0095bb629f1e44434308eef0770693764fc533b96f5cc3ad4553d73f8
Météo-France daily climatological data, Paris, 1950–2024Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 · retrieved 20 September 2026sha256 128d559d01d1f4633e3d1cbb12da8f33e48f6e6e2cb803c3b6421ed86f5ce136
OpenStreetMap Nominatim: Place de Dublin, ParisODbL 1.0, © OpenStreetMap contributors · retrieved 23 September 2026sha256 901deb2007427ff3a77f4936bbcd9e63c19523f1cfb92ff1b54f95e65e9c430f
Art Institute of Chicago, Caillebotte scholarly catalogue, cat. 2Citation excerpts; source rights retained · retrieved 19 September 2026
BnF, Degas en noir et blanc, chronologyCitation excerpt; source rights retained · retrieved 19 September 2026 · Chronologie, p. 19, 1877 entry

The numbers on this page, as JSON The method card, as JSON

Look closer

Where is the rain in the picture?

A close reading of wet stone, umbrellas and light in the painting itself. It reads the picture; this page tests what is written about it.

Open the close reading

Paris Street; Rainy Day

What is written

Records of those days

Each claim tested

Verdict

Where is the rain in the picture?