Trains in art

Vor der Vollendung (Before the Completion), 1873-1876, by Paul Friedrich Meyerheim

A locomotive or train can play many roles in art, for example:

As a work of art in itself in addition to most functional considerations, especially in streamlined steam locomotives and luxury passenger accommodations of the early 20th century, known also as the Machine Age
As a subject for a novel or film
As a metaphor in song or poetry, particularly for physical power or directed movement (physical, romantic or other), as in "Fisherman's Blues":

..."I wish I was the brakeman

on a hurtling, fevered train

crashing headlong into the heartland

like a cannon in the rain''...

In 2008, Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery held an exhibition entitled: "Art in the Age of Steam."

Trains in specific artworks

The railway station of Saint Lazare in Paris by Claude Monet

The following list is in chronological order, oldest to youngest:

"Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway", by J. M. W. Turner, 1844
"The Railway Station," by William Powell Frith, 1862
"The Travelling Companions", by Augustus Egg, 1862
"Lordship Lane Station", by Camille Pissarro, c. 1870
"The Railway", by Édouard Manet, 1872
"The railway station of Saint Lazare in Paris", by Claude Monet, c. 1877
"Le Pont de l'Europe", by Gustave Caillebotte, 1880
"Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley", by Paul Cézanne, 1882-1885
"The Lineman", by L A Ring, 1884
"The Anxious Journey", by Giorgio de Chirico, 1913
"Railroad Sunset", by Edward Hopper, 1929
"Time Transfixed", by René Magritte, 1938

In the United Kingdom the Guild of Railway Artists is a group of painters of railway subjects.

Media related to Trains in art at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 2/19/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.