The Gare Saint-Lazare was an optimal subject for Claude Monet. In paintings of this central train station, he was able to portray the busy movement of people, the technological achievements of rail travel, and changing atmospheric conditions. Monet’s compositions emphasize the rigid geometry of the large glass-and-steel shed, the distant metropolitan architecture, the trains, and even the people, and show how all of these elements were affected by variations in the light at different times of the day.