Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare

Monet painted the Gare Saint-Lazare in early 1877, in a series of seven canvases showing the station from different angles. This version, at the Art Institute of Chicago, looks down one of the platforms as a train arrives from Normandy, its locomotive pouring steam into the glass-and-iron roof. The painting is all about steam and light. A locomotive sits at the center of the canvas, dark against the pale steam that rises around it. The steam fills the upper half of the painting, catching the light from the glass roof above and turning blue, pink, and white. The platforms are visible at the bottom, with small figures in dark clothes. The iron structure of the roof is barely visible through the steam, a few dark lines against the pale sky. Monet was thirty-six in 1877. He had been painting in Paris for over a decade, and he was about to have his first major exhibition as an Impressionist. The Second Impressionist Exhibition opened in April 1877, and the Saint-Lazare paintings were the centerpiece. Monet had rented a studio near the station and had persuaded the station manager to let him paint on the platforms, even having trains stopped and steam built up so he could work. The Gare Saint-Lazare was Paris's main station for trains to Normandy, including the line to Monet's home at Argenteuil. The station had been rebuilt in the 1850s with a glass-and-iron train shed, one of the great engineering achievements of the Second Empire. Monet was the first major painter to make a railway station his subject. Before him, stations had been considered engineering, not art. After him, they were part of the modern city. Oil on canvas, 60 by 80 centimeters, roughly 24 by 32 inches. Monet used loose, visible brushstrokes to build the steam, layering whites, blues, and pinks over the darker background. The locomotive is painted in solid blacks and dark greens, a hard edge against the soft steam. The figures on the platform are tiny, a few strokes of dark paint each. This print works in a living room or office, where the industrial subject and the steam-filled light can fill a wide space. The blue and white palette suits grey walls, glass furniture, and chrome fixtures. The 18x24 size gives the steam enough room to expand. The 16x20 framed version also works in a smaller space. The painting is in the Art Institute of Chicago, part of the Ryerson Collection.