Monet’s Perception of Industrialism in Normandy
Claude Monet, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877. Oil on canvas, 60.3 x 80.2 cm. Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, 1933.1158. Image © Art Institute of Chicago/ Art Resource, NY. https://ago.ca/exhibitions/impressionism-age-industry-monet-pissarro-and-more
Lois Lee
(FR) Cet article traite de l’industrialisation croissante en France au dix-neuvième siècle à travers l’analyse du célèbre tableau de Claude Monet, La Gare Saint-Lazare, le train de Normandie qui reflète cette révolution industrielle. Le tableau possède une dimension authentique du fait de la connexion personnelle que Monet avait avec la Normandie, ainsi que ses observations méticuleuses de la région, ce qui lui a en effet permis de représenter avec justesse les effets de l’urbanisation et des réseaux ferrés sur la vie civile — en particulier à travers ces images d’oppositions entre des populations et un train. Monet dépeint en effet ce train comme une large ombre menaçante et imminente en contraste avec les vagues esquisses des figures afin de démontrer l’importance qu’a prise la technologie. Ce tableau comporte de plus des caractéristiques techniques notables de l’Impressionnisme telles que des coups de pinceau clairsemés et des hachures, afin de mettre en avant les observations directes de la gare, par Monet en un instant précis. En allant à l’encontre des représentations traditionnelles trois-dimensionnelles et en négligeant les figures humaines comme sujet principal, Monet présente de manière fascinante la Gare Saint-Lazare comme symbole de la révolution industrielle, tout en transmettant les rapides changements qui bouleversaient la société française de l’époque.
Nineteenth-century France is often viewed as a time of chaos and turmoil, driven by feelings of dissatisfaction and discontent from revolutionaries all over the country. Despite this, France also saw drastic developments that would change how people perceived and responded to the new ways of life around them. This essay will discuss how Claude Monet’s Arrival of the Normandy Train meticulously portrays the rise of industrialism in France through its adoption of the impressionist movement and real-life accounts of a modern, urban environment. This will be explored through Monet’s personal ties with the region of Normandy, the relationship between the images of civilians and machinery, and how experimentation with new techniques helped to showcase this common, everyday scene in a different light.
Normandy is inseparable from Monet’s identity, as it is not only the place in which he lived, but it is also the inspiration behind many of his renowned works; Monet attributes aspects of modernity in his art to the nature of Normandy itself. Monet discovered a lot of his subject matter through his travels between Paris and Normandy: horizons, street life, women in their leisurely activities and, of course, the train terminal that linked the two regions together.[1] Through observations of activity along this railway system, Monet concluded that travel was becoming popular amongst the French, whether it was to get away from social and political issues in the city, or to explore the towns along the coast.[2]
In addition, Le Havre, a city within Normandy, was emerging as a major port city due to trade relations with England, other French colonies, and even the Americas, as a result of an increasing demand in industry and commerce.[3] Le Havre was not only significant in an industrial sense, but Monet had personal connections with it as well.[4] It was the place where he showcased some of his first ever landscape drawings, and it is also where he met Eugene Boudin, who gave Monet tours of Normandy, including its beaches and resorts. Moreover, although most of Monet’s painting is obscured by the train station itself, the painting heavily reflects Monet’s attempt to portray the realities of urbanism. As many civilians were likely to have visited Normandy for the rural and scenic views, it is undeniable that these features of France were becoming greatly overpowered by artificial objects and human activity. In addition, as someone who spent most of his life analyzing the changes in a familiar region, it is obvious that this simple action of a train going back and forth is a common sight that Monet knew and resonated with. Therefore, Monet’s intimate experiences with these cities allowed him to create images that drew an authentic, distinct connection between tourism, industry, and current events.
Furthermore, Monet uses the railway system as his central subject in order to emphasize its authority and contrast it to the surrounding images. Although the train in the painting is immobile and the people are the ones swarming in motion around it, the machine is what radiates power and influence, since it is seen as “an apocalyptic vision of potential destruction.”[5] Even though there are dozens of people in comparison to the single train, the implied noises of the whistling steam and the trembling of wheels against the tracks easily drowns out the chatter and footsteps of the people, adding to its intimidating and menacing state.[6] Monet also displays the superiority of the train by reducing the people in the painting to miniscule figures with indistinguishable faces and gestures, showcased through a few, simple brush strokes.[7] This reduction signifies straying away from classical subject matter in antiquity, as humans were commonly used as the prominent subject of art. Monet’s painting conveys how humans were no longer the driving force for western muses and culture. Instead, technology and its extensive innovations were becoming highly prioritized, and thus showcased as a dependent advancement in history that would continue to benefit, but also dominate, the human race.
Lastly, Monet explores new methods for showcasing elements in his work, while also straying away from conventional procedures, in order to emphasize this drastic shift to using industrial products as subject matter. As one of the many prominent figures during the impressionist movement, Monet attentively observed his subjects while maintaining a naturalistic appearance to his works.[8] Primarily, Monet played around with the use of colour, due to his observation that materials appear differently depending on their light source or the shadows of objects surrounding them.[9] And so, in order to showcase the effects of luminosity and capture the shift and reflection of light, Monet hatched complementary colours instead of mixing them together, as seen in the blue values and orange tints on the glass roof and walls.[10] In fact, as impressionists began to work en plein air in order to closely observe how the sky and its atmospheric nature changed throughout the day, Monet was successful in capturing a fleeting moment by painting the dissipated smoke with quick, individual strokes and colours.[11] In the past, there had been an emphasis on depicting objects as they are commonly known or perceived. However, Monet ensures that he showcases the train scene exactly how he sees it by rejecting traditional methods of linear perspective and three-dimensional composition, and instead focusing on the stance of the objects and their correlation to one another.[12] Therefore, the experimental ways in which Monet showcases all the elements of his piece not only give the most authentic and genuine representation of his encounter with the Normandy train, but they also reflect a turning point in both artistic and commercial movements.
In conclusion, Claude Monet’s Arrival of the Normandy Train is one of the most profound representations of the growth of industrialism in France. Living in Normandy gave Monet great opportunities to build an intimate relationship with the life he had around him, ultimately discovering ways in which nature and also people change overtime. He was able to adapt difficult techniques that would convey both a new style of painting and a new form of perspective. Although industrialism was a conspicuous development in France, Monet thoroughly presents the train, a symbol of this revolution, as a notable aspect of modernity and a crucial contribution to the future of the world around him.