Trains in art

Trains in art refers to the depiction of locomotives and trains as subjects in the visual arts, literature, film, and music. Trains have appeared in painting, sculpture, and photography since the early days of the Industrial Revolution, reflecting the cultural and technological significance of rail transport. Artists have used trains as primary subjects, as elements of landscape and urban scenes, and as metaphors for power, movement, and modernity. Notable works span from the mid-19th century, when railways first transformed societies, through the Machine Age of the early 20th century and beyond.

Criteria A locomotive or train can play many roles in art, for example: As the main subject of a painting, sculpture, or photograph 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 (phallic) 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 1978, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris held the exhibition "Les Temps des Gares" with the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the National Railway Museum in York, and the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.

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

Trains in specific artworks

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 Berlin-Potsdam Railway, by Adolph von Menzel, 1847 Gnome Watching Railway Train, by Carl Spitzweg, 1848 The Lackawanna Valley, by George Inness, 1855 The Railway Station, by William Powell Frith, 1862 The Travelling Companions, by Augustus Egg, 1862 Lordship Lane Station, by Camille Pissarro, 1871 The Railway, by Édouard Manet, 1872 Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 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 Landscape with a Carriage and a Train, by Vincent van Gogh, 1890 States of Mind I:The Farewells, by Umberto Boccioni, 1911 The Anxious Journey, by Giorgio de Chirico, 1913 Railroad Sunset, by Edward Hopper, 1929 Train in the Station, by Raoul Dufy, 1935 Time Transfixed, by René Magritte, 1938 Rolling Power, by Charles Sheeler, 1939 The Migration Series, Panel 5: "Migrants were advanced passage on the railroads, paid for by northern industry. Northern industry was to be repaid by the migrants out of their future wages", by Jacob Lawrence, 1941–42Migrants were advanced passage on the railroads, paid for by northern industry. Northern industry was to be repaid by the migrants out of their future wages.|Jacob Lawerence: The Migration Series The Race, by Thomas Hart Benton, 1942The Race (also titled Homeward Bound) – Works – Terra Foundation for American Art Night Train (1947), Train in Evening (1957), Station in the Forest (1960) and The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (1968), by Paul Delvaux Horse and Train, by Alex Colville, 1954 Chair Car, by Edward Hopper, 1965 The Sources of Country Music, by Thomas Hart Benton, 1975 Autumn of Steam, by Terence Cuneo, 197910 paintings that pay homage to the train - Art Shortlist Jim Beam - J.B. Turner Train, by Jeff Koons, 1986 Brick Train, by David Mach, 1997

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

Trains in art

Bron en licentie