The Floor Scrapers

Gustave Caillebotte painted The Floor Scrapers in 1875. Three shirtless workers kneel on a parquet floor, scraping the wood smooth with metal blades. Light streams through tall French windows, catching dust particles in the air. The men's muscular backs and arms show the physical strain of the work.

Caillebotte submitted this to the official Salon. The jury rejected it. Working-class labor was not considered a proper subject for serious painting. The artist focused on the geometry of floorboards converging toward the window and the rhythm of three bodies bent to the same task.

Musée d'Orsay in Paris now displays this once-rejected work prominently. Caillebotte's unflinching attention to manual labor set him apart from his fellow Impressionists. For figure studies, see figurative art.