The Third-Class Carriage 

Honoré Daumier made this oil painting, The Third-Class Carriage, in France, during a time of great social change, likely sometime in the 1860s. In this crowded scene, Daumier captures the everyday reality of the working class on a train. The way he uses light and shadow is significant, drawing our attention to the weariness and resilience etched on the faces of the passengers. We can imagine the painting critiquing the class divisions in French society. The advent of accessible railway travel created a new shared space, and it challenged older rigid social hierarchies. Daumier exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon, so he was very aware of the kind of work that was and wasn't accepted by the institutional gatekeepers of the art world. To fully appreciate this artwork, we could study the history of transportation, as well as the social and political context of 19th-century France. Looking at Daumier's other work such as his lithographs for the press would also give us a much richer sense of his project.