The Gare Saint-Lazare Arrival of a Train

Claude Monet painted this scene at the Gare Saint-Lazare in 1877, capturing the bustle of one of the biggest train stations in Paris. Clouds of steam rise up toward the glass and iron roof, nearly hiding the locomotives and the tiny figures scattered across the platform. Monet loved this spot so much that he returned to paint it about a dozen times. He even talked the station master into holding the trains and releasing extra steam so he could get just the right burst of vapor. On the left, the buildings of the city peek through the misty air, while a train rolls in on the right.

As a shining example of Impressionism, the movement Monet helped bring to life, the painting trades sharp edges for quick, loose brushwork and a cool mix of blues and grays. He was less concerned with the trains as machines and more taken by the way light drifted through the smoke and the roof above. While plenty of painters of his day still favored sweeping landscapes or scenes from history, Monet turned to something modern and ordinary, finding beauty in the smoke and clatter of a working railway station.