The Floor Scrapers, 1875 Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Gustave Caillebotte also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting The Floor Scrapers is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

In this painting, three shirtless men crouch low over a wooden floor, their torsos bent with focused intensity as they laboriously scrape away old varnish. The air seems charged with the soft hush of concentrated effort. Light drifts in from a wrought-iron balcony beyond the open double doors, illuminating the interior in a manner that recalls a stage set. The men’s tools, the scattered wood shavings, and an uncorked bottle resting to one side create a quiet narrative of careful craftsmanship rather than any grand drama.

In terms of color, the palette is neither lush nor ostentatious. Instead, it relies on delicate browns, subdued greys, and muted creams that emphasize natural tones and the physicality of the materials. This reserved use of color highlights the texture of the wood floor and sets a sober mood, guiding the viewer’s eye across the horizontal bands of planks and toward the gentle, diffused glow at the room’s far edge. There is something remarkably modern in the way the hues refrain from theatrical flourish, focusing on an honest depiction of ordinary work.

The painter’s technique is meticulous, evidence of academic training taken to heart yet applied to a thoroughly contemporary subject. Each plank is rendered with faithful draftsmanship, and the figures have a sculptural solidity that hints at classical anatomy studies. The careful modeling of their muscular backs and shoulders, as well as the fine attention to their simple tools, speaks to a process that combined patient drawing and methodical transfer onto the final canvas.

Compositionally, the scene is balanced yet slightly off-center, pushing the action forward as if the viewer stands just behind them, invited to follow the lines of their labor toward the light. The perspective is steep, accentuating the long receding boards, while the presence of the open doors and iron balcony beyond provides a sense of airy depth. Unlike many earlier depictions of rural laborers, this scene of urban craftsmen avoids explicit political or moral commentary. Instead, it shows a moment of quiet, honest work, reflecting the shifting focus of late 19th-century art toward the realities of modern city life. The decision to present these three workers as if they belonged in the grand tradition of painting was both daring and refreshingly direct.