Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 31 1/2 in. (59.6 x 80.2 cm)

Discussion
Claude Monet considered modern, industrial settings like Gare Saint-Lazare to be beautiful. He found poetry in railway stations as previous artists had found poetry in forests and rivers. Study the painting carefully and identify what is happening. What moment from everyday life does this painting capture? Where did the artist stand to paint this? How was the paint applied to the canvas? What is the most important aspect of the scene and why? A year after the train station was redesigned in 1869, Gare Saint-Lazare handled more than thirteen million passengers. Who were they? Where might they have been going? What is a contemporary equivalent of this kind of public transportation center?

Activities
1. The 1869 Gare Saint-Lazare epitomized the excitement of the new industrial age. Research technological inventions of the nineteenth century (i.e., steam engine, internal combustion machine, typewriter, sewing machine). What are some of the developments which helped turn medieval Paris into the first modern metropolis? (Electric lighting, reinforced concrete, tempered plate glass, first public telephone system, elevators, central heating, department stores, creation of the vast rail-way system.) Which innovations directly affected Monet and the Impressionists? (Collapsible paint tube, aerial photography, commercially available oil paints.) Which of these discoveries can be seen directly in Arrival of the Normandy Train?

2. In this painting, Monet captured the rumble of trains surging forward and the torrents of smoke winding through the vast engine shed. How did he accomplish this? Consider brushwork, colors, details, and point of view. Which part of the painting appears to be lightest? Which is the heaviest? Try to identify the Impressionist techniques used here. (Direct observation of the world; painting out of doors; use of pure bright colors applied with short, quick brushstrokes; attempt to capture the effects of light.)

3. To observe the world directly was of utmost importance to Monet and the Impressionist artists. Record your own careful observations of modern life in a drawing or painting. Choose a local transportation center that you use (such as a train station, El platform, or bus depot) as the subject of the exercise. What sights, sounds and smells are associated with these places? Is there a sense of commotion and bustle? In your artwork, try to capture the feeling of the surroundings: remember, clear concise details were not important to Monet; he wanted to capture general effects or impressions.