Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare

Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare by Claude Monet: One of the most avant-garde aspects of the Impressionists was their choice of subject matter,…

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One of the most avant-garde aspects of the Impressionists was their choice of subject matter, which frequently included scenes derived from modern, industrial Paris, from iron bridges to exhibition halls to train sheds. The train station at Saint-Lazare would have been a familiar, meaningful sight to Claude Monet in the 1870s. The terminal linked Paris to Normandy, where the artist developed his technique of painting outdoors in the 1860s. It was also the point of departure for the towns and villages west and nort…