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La Gare Saint-Lazare

Claude Monet · 1877

Monet's 1877 painting of a steam-filled Paris railway station, showing his interest in modern, industrial subjects.

Monet painted this scene as part of his turn to modern industrial subjects and serial painting.

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Painting of a railway station with a steam locomotive under a glass and iron roof, surrounded by billowing blue and white steam. Buildings stand in the background and small figures walk on the platform at lower right.
Claude Monet, La Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

About this source

What it is

This 1877 oil painting by Claude Monet depicts the Gare Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris, with a steam locomotive under a glass and iron roof and billowing clouds of steam. It is held by the Musée d'Orsay.

Why it matters

Rather than painting traditional landscapes, Monet turned his attention to the busy, noisy, modern world of railways, a subject that reflected the rapid industrial change of 19th-century France. The painting is part of his practice of returning to one motif - here the station - in several versions, studying how light and steam constantly changed its appearance.

Look closer

  • What does Monet choose to make sharp and what does he dissolve into haze or steam?
  • Why might a painter be drawn to a railway station instead of a quiet countryside scene?
  • What clues tell you this is a bustling, modern place rather than a peaceful one?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Claude Monet on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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