Criteria

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

can play many roles in art, for example: * As the main subject of a painting, sculpture, or photograph * As a

work of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

in itself in addition to most functional considerations, especially in

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

steam locomotives and luxury passenger accommodations of the early 20th century, known also as the

Machine Age The Machine Age is an era that includes the early-to-mid 20th century, sometimes also including the late 19th century. An approximate dating would be about 1880 to 1945. Considered to be at its peak in the time between the first and second wo ...

* As a subject for a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

* As a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

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 The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

held the

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibitio ...

"Les Temps des Gares" with the

Palais des Beaux-Arts The Centre for Fine Arts (french: Palais des Beaux-Arts, nl, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten) is a multi-purpose cultural venue in Brussels, Belgium. It is often referred to as BOZAR (a homophone of ''Beaux-arts'') in French or PSK in Dutch. The b ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, and the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. In 2008,

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

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 Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

, 1844 * ''

The Berlin-Potsdam Railway ''The Berlin-Potsdam Railway'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by German artist Adolph Menzel, created in 1847. It belongs to the early creative phase of the artist and depicts a section of the Berlin-Potsdam Railway, opened in 1838, at the southwest ...

'', by Adolph von Menzel, 1847 * ''

Gnome Watching Railway Train ''Gnome Watching Railway Train'' (german: Gnom, Eisenbahn betrachtend) is an 1848 oil-on-wood painting by the German painter Carl Spitzweg. Description A small gnome with a grey beard and a pointed hat stands at the entrance of a cave at a high ...

'', by

Carl Spitzweg Carl Spitzweg (February 5, 1808 – September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. Life and career Spitzweg was born in U ...

, 1848 * ''The Railway Station'', by

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

, 1862 * ''

The Travelling Companions ''The Travelling Companions'' is an 1862 oil-on-canvas painting by British artist Augustus Leopold Egg. It is held by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, presented by the John Feeney Charitable Trust in 1956. Content The painting measures ...

'', by

Augustus Egg Augustus Leopold Egg RA (2 May 1816, in London – 26 March 1863, in Algiers) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych '' Past and Present'' (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-class ...

, 1862 * ''Lordship Lane Station'', by Camille Pissarro, c. 1870 * ''The Railway'', by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bo ...

, 1872 * ''

Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare ''Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare'', also known as ''The Railway Station of Saint Lazare in Paris'', is a c. 1877 painting by Claude Monet. It is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

'', by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...

, c. 1877 * ''Le Pont de l'Europe'', by

Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was known for his early ...

, 1880 * ''

Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley ''Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley'' is an oil painting on canvas completed by the French artist Paul Cézanne between 1882 and 1885. It depicts Montagne Sainte-Victoire and the valley of the Arc River, with Cézanne' ...

'', by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

, 1882–1885 * ''The Lineman'', by L A Ring, 1884 * '' States of Mind I:The Farewells'', by

Umberto Boccioni Umberto Boccioni (, ; 19 October 1882 – 17 August 1916) was an influential Italian painter and sculptor. He helped shape the revolutionary aesthetic of the Futurism movement as one of its principal figures. Despite his short life, his approach ...

, 1911 * ''The Anxious Journey'', by

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...

, 1913 * ''Railroad Sunset'', by

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

, 1929 * ''

Time Transfixed ''Time Transfixed'' (''La Durée poignardée'') is a 1938 oil on canvas painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte. It is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and is usually on display in the museum's Modern Wing ...

'', by

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bound ...

, 1938 * ''Rolling Power'', by Charles Sheeler, 1939 * '' Night Train'' (1947), ''Train in Evening'' (1957), ''Station in the Forest'' (1960) and ''

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia ''The Sacrifice of Iphigenia'' (french: Le sacrifice d'Iphigénie) is a 1968 painting by Paul Delvaux. Inspired by Iphigenia's sacrifice in Greek mythology, it depicts five people on a boardwalk. In the foreground are three women, two of whom mig ...

'' (1968), by Paul Delvaux * ''Horse and Train'', by

Alex Colville David Alexander Colville, LL. D. (24 August 1920 – 16 July 2013) was a painter and printmaker who continues to achieve both popular and critical success. Early life and war artist Born in 1920 in Toronto, Ontario, Colville moved with his ...

, 1954 * ''The Sources of Country Music'', by Thomas Hart Benton, 1975 * ''Jim Beam - J.B. Turner Train'', by

Jeff Koons Jeffrey Lynn Koons (; born January 21, 1955) is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-Surface fi ...

, 1986 * ''

Brick Train The ''Brick Train'' is a brick sculpture located on the outskirts of the town of Darlington, in the English county of Durham. The sculpture was created by David Mach in 1997 to celebrate the town's railway heritage, and is modelled on the steam ...

'', by

David Mach David Mach (born 18 March 1956) is a Scottish sculptor and installation artist. Life and work Mach was born in Methil, Fife. His artistic style is based on flowing assemblages of mass-produced objects. Typically these include magazines, ...

, 1997

Artists specialising in trains

In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Visual arts genres +Art 19th century in the arts 20th century in the arts

Criteria

Trains in specific artworks

Artists specialising in trains

See also

References

Further reading

External links