You may remember him from Planers of a small apartment:

Caillebotte, like many of his contemporary impressionists, sought to depart from the rigid traditions of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (The Academy). The Academy upheld long-standing French artistic traditions of the Baroque and Renaissance including using dull colors and even finishing paintings with a gold tarnish to reduce the colors.

But in the age of industrialism, many new colors of paint were available to artists. Which lead to more vivid paintings, and the Academy largely rejected these. They could not get a spot in the yearly display of works until Napoleon saw their works and called for a Salon of the Rejected.

In this painting we see a still life of wilted roses. Believe it or not this was basically a slap in the face to traditional painters. They would never paint a still life of flowers, and expect it to be taken seriously, and even more insulting the flowers were wilted.