Claude Monet (1840-1926)
France, 1877
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Orsay 
© Musée d’Orsay, dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Patrice Schmidt

With this totally new subject, utterly in tune with changes taking place in the society, Monet offers more evidence of the modern sensibility. The subject of the station – a place of constant movement, with trains arriving and departing, and a temple of technology, with its glass and steel architecture, is in itself a symbol of modernity and modern life. Monet depicts the steam from the trains and the passengers against the backdrop of Haussmann’s Paris. In places, the subject is subsumed by colour, resulting in an almost abstract vision. The Saint-Lazare Station provides a superb foil to another scene from modern life, Gustave Caillebotte’s The Game of Bezique, from Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection.