Why it matters
A woman with a sleeping puppy in her lap looks up at us, while a little girl in white watches through the railings as a train passes below, visible only as a cloud of steam. Manet replaced the traditional natural backdrop with an iron fence stretching across the canvas.
Did you know?
- It was painted in 1873 near the Gare Saint-Lazare.
- It is Manet's last painting of Victorine Meurent, the model for Olympia.
- The girl was the daughter of Manet's neighbour.
- It was shown at the Salon of 1874.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Railway (CC BY-SA 4.0).
