Edouard Manet's Gare Sainl-Lazare, a painting he exhibited as Le Chemin defer (The Railway),has always intrigued as much as it has delighted critics, scholars.This book is the catalogue for an exhibition showing at the MusSe d'Orsay, Paris, and at the National Gallery Of Art, Washington, D.C.

Edouard Manet's Gare Sainl-Lazare, a painting he exhibited as Le Chemin defer (The Railway),has always intrigued as much as it has delighted critics, scholars, and the art-loving public.Shown at the Paris Salon in 1874, the year of the first Impressionist exhibition, this enigmatic work provides a glimpse of the great stone and iron Pont de l'Europe and suggests proximity to the Gare Saint-Lazare where powerful steam engines were sheltered. Symbolizing energy and progress, the railroad became a focus for Manet, Monet, Caillebotte, and many other artists in the decades after the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune.

  Based on new research into the streets and studios of Paris, this book identifies the precise site of Manet's picture, painted shortly after his move to a new studio. The book reveals fresh meaning behind the artist's seemingly straightforward depiction of an urban scene and contrasts his major works of the 18-7os with earlier key paintings that featured Manet's favorite model, Victorine Meurent. The book also explores the atmosphere of Manet's studio and his close relationship with poet and critic.

  Along with Manet, other artists celebrated the Pont de l'Europe, the Gare Saint-Lazare,and the Paris skyline beyond, while Monet sketched and painted within the station and down the tracks, capturing the bustle and energy there. A comparison of Manet's and Monet's urban views sheds light on the crucial question of pMn air versus studio painting.

 This book is the catalogue for an exhibition showing at the MusSe d'Orsay, Paris, and at the National Gallery Of Art, Washington, D.C.

Foreword

Author's Acknowledgments

Lenders to the Exhibition

Introduction

The Railway and lts Context

The Batignolles School: The 186os

Victorine: The Art of Painting

War and Peace

Manet's Railway in Perspective

Artists in The Europe District. Caillebotte and Monet at The Gare Saint-Lazare

A New Site: The Europe District

The Gate Saint-Lazare and The Pont de l'Europe

On The Bridge and In The Street

Monet at The Gate Saint-Lazare

The udio in The Rue de Saint-Pgtersbourg

The Rue Mosnier

The New Studio

Mallarmd and Manet

Manet, Jury, and Public

Notes

ChecklistCompiled with the assistance of Florence E. Coman

Bibliography