The experience of train travel at the avant-garde of cinema and painting.
- Pierre Caudevelle
- Mar 24
- 2 min read
The documentary L’œil, le pinceau et le cinématographe by Stefan Cornic presents train travel as more than transportation: it is an artistic experience that reshaped how we see the world.
But why did the invention of the train fundamentally transform perception?
A pre-cinematic experience
Comfortably seated, watching landscapes unfold through the window, the train places the traveler in a unique position: that of a spectator.
The window becomes a frame. A moving frame.
Long before cinema existed, train travel introduced a form of visual narration that was already dynamic and immersive. Artist Tacita Dean described the train as a “pre-cinematic medium”. The continuous flow of exterior landscapes created the conditions for what Louis Lumière referred to as an “animated photographic view.”[1]
In this sense, the train did not just anticipate cinema.It helped invent its language.
Two fundamental techniques emerge directly from this experience:
lateral movement, later formalised as the tracking shot
framing, structured by the train window itself
The train as a cinematic subject
Train travel did not only shape how films are made. It quickly became one of cinema’s earliest and most iconic subjects.
From its very beginnings, the railway embodied movement, modernity and emotion on screen. A defining example is L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat by the Lumière brothers. According to historical accounts, audiences were startled by the realism of the arriving train, some reportedly stepping back in fear.
Whether myth or reality, the reaction reflects something essential: the train was one of the first subjects capable of creating a visceral cinematic experience.
Since then, trains have remained a recurring narrative element. Not just a setting, but often a character in itself.
Stations as spectacle: from industry to visual culture
Beyond cinema, railways also deeply influenced painting.
Artists such as J. M. W. Turner in Rain, Steam and Speed (1844), and Claude Monet with his La Gare Saint-Lazare series (1877), explored the visual power of trains, light and movement.
Monet’s twelve variations of Saint-Lazare station, shifting in light and framing, already echo a cinematic approach to repetition and perspective.
Cultural historian Vanessa Schwartz describes this phenomenon as a form of “spectacularisation”. During the Industrial Revolution, stations became stages.
A new kind of theatre emerged: one of steam, noise, movement and anticipation.
In this “theatre of stations”, departures were not just functional moments, but carefully staged visual events. [2]
A suspended moment in motion
What makes train travel unique is that it combines movement with stillness.
It allows multiple modes of experience:
working
reading
watching
or simply observing
Looking through the window becomes a form of contemplation. A moving meditation.
A moment outside of time.
[1] Renaud Machart ”L’Œil, le pinceau et le cinématographe sur Arte : naissance d’un regard cinématographique”, Le Monde, publié le 24 Octobre 2021, consulté le 16 Décembre 2021, https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2021/10/24/l-il-le-pinceau-et-le-cinematographe-sur-arte-naissance-d-un-regard-cinematographique_6099723_3246.html [2] Stéphane Sauget, « La spectacularisation de la technique dans les gares parisiennes au XIXe siècle », Romantisme, p23 à 33, https://www.cairn.info/revue-romantisme-2010-4-page-23.htm
