Claude Monet, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint Lazare

Who painted Arrival of the Normandy Train?

Claude Monet

In which year did Claude Monet paint Arrival of the Normandy Train?

1877

What was Claude Monet’s social status growing up?

Middle class

When and where was Claude Monet born?

In Paris, 1840

Where did Monet grow up?

Le Havre, a port in Normandy

What was Monet’s father’s occupation?

He was a grocer

Where did Monet participate in military service?

The French colony of Algeria

When did Monet return to Paris from Algeria to study art?

In 1862

Whom did Claude Monet study art under in Paris?

Charles Gleyre

During Monet’s time, when did tensions start mounting in Paris between the old and young academic factions?

in the 1850s and 1860s

In Paris, which art techniques did older Academic factions prize heavily?

Linear perspective, sharp focus, and a high finish

Who did Monet initially ally with as tension rose between old and new factions in Paris?

The older traditionalists

Where did Monet display his paintings?

At the Salon

Which years did Monet display his paintings in the Salon?

1865, 1866, and 1868

Which artists did Claude Monet meet that moved him towards abstract representations of landscape?

Alfred Sisley and Pierre-Auguste Renoir

When did Monet meet Alfred Sisley and Pierre-Auguste Renoir?

In the 1860s

Sisley and Renoir’s works stressed what?

Spontaneity, the use of saturated, unmixed colors and a focus on brushwork/ experimental techniques instead of over detailed naturalism

Monet was known for painting where?

Outdoors

What is painting outdoors known as in French?

Painting en pein air

Which technological development helped artists like Monet paint outdoors?

oil paints in pre-filled metal tubes

What did oil paints in pre-filled metal tubes allow outdoor painters to do?

Make their jobs portable and flexible

Which country did the Pre-Raphaelite brother emerge from?

England

Though they are well-loved know, what were Impressionists seen as during their own time period?

Upstart radicals similar to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

When did the Impressionist head-on challenge to tradition French Academic painting begin?

In 1874

Which artists founded the “société anonyme”?

Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte and Edgar Degas

What does “société anonyme” refer to in French?

It is a legal term for a corporation owned by stockholders

What did Impressionists artists like Monet do to formally challenge traditional French art head-on?

They founded the “société anonyme”

When was the “société anonyme”s first exhibition?

In 1874, the year it was founded

Who did the “société anonyme” feature in its first exhibition, in 1874?

Artists whom had been rejected by the official Salon

Who named Monet’s group “Impressionists“?

Art critic Louis Leroy

What did Louis Leroy name the Impressionists after?

Monet’s artwork “Impression, Sunrise“

Where did Monet exhibit “Impression, Sunrise”?

At the “société anonyme”s 1874 exhibit.

How long has the designation “Impressionists” been around

for 150 years

Which part of art did Impressionists artists to defer from each other in?

The subjects they chose to paint

Despite their differing subject matter, what did all Impressionists share?

A rejection of detailed, highly finished naturalism

Which art styles had the detailed and highly finished naturalism that Impressionists rejected?

Academic and Orientalists paintings

Impressionists produced works that appeared to be momentary what?

“'Impressions”

What was typical Impressionist subject matter?

Natural landscapes, middle-class leisure activities, and the changing city of Paris

In which years did revolutions occur?

1789, 1814, 1830, and 1848

Paris underwent an urban renewal project after a period of what?

revolutions

Which parts of infrastructure did Paris’s urban renewal project target?

Widening main streets, installing public parks and gardens, and constructing iconic buildings

Who painted Portrait of Claude Monet in 1872?

Auguste Renoir

Which iconic buildings were constructed during Paris’s urban renewal project?

Printemps department store (1865) and the Ópera (1975)

What contributed to Paris’s new culture of Leisure, consumption and entertainment?

The urban renewal project and the improvements it made/buildings built

In Paris, how many railroad stations were built as part of the Urban renewal project?

7 new stations

Paris’s railroad stations connected all regions of France to what?

The capital city

What was the name of Paris’s first railroad station?

Gare Saint-Lazare

When was the Gare Saint-Lazare (Paris’s first railroad station) built?

In 1835

How far away was the Gare Saint-Lazare from Paris’s main shopping district?

A 10 minute walk

Where was the Gare Saint-Lazare located?

In central Paris

Where did Gare Saint-Lazare connect Paris to?

Its suburbs to the Northwest and ports such as Normandy in the Northwest

Where were the Gare Saint-Lazare’s railroad tracks first built?

They were hidden in tunnels under a plaza.

When was Pont de I’Europe constructed?

in 1854

What is the Pont de I’Europe?

A bridge that allowed pedestrians to have access to the Gare Saint-Lazare

When was the approach to the Gare Saint-Lazare opened up?

In the 1853 redevelopment

What did the Gare Saint-Lazare (train station) and the Pont de I’Europe (bridge to the train station) symbolize for Paris?

The new and evolving Paris that was demolishing medieval buildings and streets to make way for modernity

What was the roof of the Gare Saint-Lazare made of?

Iron and glass, to bring in natural light

Which part of the Gare Saint-Lazare was a symbol of Paris’s modernity (in addition to the building itself)?

The iron and glass roof

What is Le Charivari?

A humorous periodical (magazine)

Which artists produced cartoons for Le Charivari?

Printmaker Honoré Daumier

What was Honoré Daumier’s profession?

Printmaker

Which artists produced satirical series On the Train?

Honoré Daumier

When was On the Train released?

published in the 1850s, released as a stand alone print in 1864

Which artist painted The Railway (1873)?

Édouard Manet

What does The Railway (1873) depict?

A governess and young child looking through the railings at a train line suffused with fluffy white steam

Who painted Le Pont de I’Europe ?

Impressionist and Monet’s close friend: Caillebotte

What does Le Pont de I’Europe depict?

The new iron truss bridge that spanned the tracks of Saint-Lazare train station (it depicted Pont de I’Europe)

What material was the actual bridge Pont de I’Europe made from?

Iron in a truss structure

How many images in Claude Monet create of the Gare Saint-Lazare station in his series?

at least a dozen

Who is the most consistent fine artist who depicted the Saint Lazare train station?

Claude Monet

What did Claude Monet focus on when he depicted Saint Lazare train station?

How the industrial architecture interacted with light, weather and atmosphere

Where was Monet’s home between 1971 and 1877?

Argenteuil (a northwest suburb of Paris in the line of Saint-Lazare)

Monet’s works while living in Argentuil depicted what?

His family enjoying an idyllic space of flowers and fresh air, away from the city.

When did the idea of Argenteuil as a countryside retreat starting slowly disappearing?

In the 1870s

What was the idea of Argenteuil as a countryside retreat replaced with in the 1870s?

Its new role as a “suburban village, neither city nor country“

When did Monet rent a studio space near the Gare Saint-Lazare?

In 1877

In 1877, Monet rented what type of space near the Gare Saint-Lazare?

a studio space

What type of paintings did Monet make in 1877, after moving near the Saint-Lazare?

Paintings that showed urban buildings and activities

How many scenes of the Saint-Lazare train station did Monet paint in 1877?

12 scenes in and around the station

What did most of Monet’s scenes of the Saint-Lazare train station show?

A view from someone looking out from the train platforms toward the Pont de I‘Europe and the rest of Paris

What was an obstacle that Monet overcame to paint images of the Saint-Lazare?

He had to receive special permission to work inside the station

Arrival of Normandy Train showcases the oldest set of what in the station?

The oldest set of tracks

In Arrival of Normandy Train where are the newer set of track located?

to the rear of where the artist would have stood, farther into the painting

In Arrival of Normandy Train which structure is partly visible?

The bridge Pont de I’Europe

What does the Pont de I’Europe dissappear into in Arrival of Normandy Train?

A Haze of smoke at the left of the picture

Which museum’s house Monet’s works of the Saint-Lazare train station?

Harvard’s Fogg Museum and Paris’s Musée d’Orsay

The Arrival of Normandy Train uses what color scheme?

It is monochrome

How much of the painting does Arrival of Normandy Train’s foreground take up?

a quarter of the painting

What color is the foreground of Arrival of Normandy Train?

A pale greenish-brown

What color is every part of Arrival of Normandy Train besides the foreground?

tones of Black to bluish gray (which is 3/4ths of the painting)

How does Monet create the steam in Arrival of Normandy Train?

By using small feathery strokes, larger blotches, and quick scribbles

What does the smoke of the train in Arrival of Normandy Train mix with?

The smoke of other trains, clouds, and the hazy pale sky

What is the weather like in Arrival of Normandy Train?

Cloudy/overcast

Who painted Pont Neuf Paris(1872)?

Auguste Renoir

How did Monet emphasize the modernity of the Saint-Lazare station?

By stressing the details of its cast iron pillars and glass roofing panes

What does the steam in Arrival of Normandy Train do?

It dematerializes the architecture and the people, giving way to “impressions“ of the space

How does Monet split his focus between the architecture of the station and the steam that dematerializes the surroundings?

He splits it equally

What did Monet use as prep material for his paintings of the station?

Extensive notebook sketches of the station and surrounding neighborhoods

Just click show

Although impressionism aimed at giving quick momentary glances at a subject, Monet had extensive, detailed sketches of the Saint Lazare station and surrounding neighborhoods that he used as references.

How many of Monet’s 12 paintings of Saint Lazare was shown at the 3 Impressionist exhibition in 1877?

7 of his 12