Focus on Gare Saint-Lazare (Monet series) and explore the Description.
Each of the twelve paintings did not maintain a consistent point of view. Monet shifted position in almost every painting: some were set inside the massive glass shed, some were out, and some were painted underneath the pont de l’Europe, which created a compressed angle to show the rush of two approaching trains.Some of his paintings depicted the speeding and unstoppable trains rushing towards the end of the track, while others showed the massive locomotive waiting patiently before setting off. Despite the different compositions, all of the works show the station filled with thick clouds of steam and the pungent plumes of smoke from the burning coal. The smoke obscured objects in the distance, dissolving forms through suffused light. Monet mixed different degrees of sharp and blurry brush strokes and the steam left by passing trains to create this sense of fleetingness.Despite the harsh conditions, Monet still successfully depicted temporal factors like trains and passengers speeding by. Train signals announce departures and arrivals; switchmen are scattered around, timing everyone's actions; and the smoke and steam imply the movement of heavy machine.Critics in 1877 claimed Monet captured the arrival and departure of trains and their stages of movement precisely. As Baron Grimm said: “The artist wanted to demonstrate step by step the impression of a train during departure, the impression of a train about to depart, and he has tried, ultimately, to give us the disagreeable impression that results when several locomotives whistle at the same time.”
pont de l’Europe locomotive switchmen Baron Grimm