Monet
Gare Saint Lazare,
1877 |
Caillebotte's Le Pont
de l' Europe was accompanied in the Impressionist exhibition of 1877
by Monet's view of the same bridge, seen from the tracks Le
Pont de l'Europe, 1877 , and seven other paintings of the
Gare Saint Lazare, including interiors of the train shed.
Monet had been living Argenteuil for several years, but in the winter
of 1876 to 1877 he rented a studio on the rue d'Edimbourg and began
a group of paintings of the Gare Saint Lazare. His studio placed him
near Caillebotte, Manet, and Degas, and their interest in urban subjects
probably helped turn him temporarily from the suburbs to the city.
Manet had already painted the tracks, and Caillebotte's Le Pont de
l' Enrope was underway before Monet launched his series. Monet had
regularly used the Gare Saint Lazare going to and from Argenteuil
since 1872. He had painted the railway bridge at Argenteuil, and a
few pictures of industrial sites along the Seine, so the city station
was a logical extension of his interest in contemporary subjects.
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Monet
Gare Saint Lazare, 1877
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In Gare Saint Lazare,
Monet's view within the train shed is balanced. It is an unusual view
with few precedents in the history of painting, but one that users
of the station would have been familiar with. We are placed at the
end of the tracks, looking along the axis of the rails towards the
Pont de 1'Europe, whose gridwork is at the level of the locomotive's
smokestack.
From the way the blue clouds of smoke pull upwards, we can see that
the engine is either backing out of the station, or possibly just
entering it. To the right, nearby, is a rail worker, and further back
are the passengers on the quay. On the left is the car of an engineless
train.
The potential movement of both trains is directly towards, or away
from, the observer, with the result that neither seems to move. The
sense of being held in a timeless moment is emphasized by the puffs
of steam which come from the undercarriage of the engine. These puffs
hide the train's wheels, making it float in an atmosphere of light,
steam, and smoke. |
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