"That Impressionism was firmly anchored in the industrial development of the time and in the concurrent process of urbanization is also revealed by the artists' choices of subjects.  Most of the Impressionists depicted scenes in and around Paris, where industrialization and urbanization had their greatest impact.  Monet's Saint Lazare Train Station depicts a dominant aspect of Parisian life.  The expanding railway network had made travel more convenient, bringing throngs of people into Paris.  Saint-Lazare Station was centrally located, adjacent to the Grands Boulevards, a bustling fashionable commercial area.  Monet captured the area's energy and vitality; the train, emerging from the steam and smoke it emits, comes into the station.  Through the background haze, viewers can make out the tall buildings that were becoming a major component of the Parisian landscape.  Monet's agitated paint application contributes to the sense of energy and conveys the atmosphere of urban life."

 - Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, pp. 905 - 906

 ***** insert La Japonaise *****

 "Despite Europe and America's rampant colonization during the nineteenth century, Japan avoided Western intrusion until 1853 - 1854 when Commodore Matthew Perry and American naval forces exacted trading and diplomatic privileges from Japan.  From the increased contact, Westerners became familiar with Japanese culture.  So intrigued were the French with Japanese art and culture that a specific label - Japonisme - was introduced to describe the Japanses aesthetic.  Japonisme appealed to the fashionable segment of Parisian society, which was no doubt attracted to both the beauty and the exoticism of this foreign culture.  In 1867 at the Universal Exposition in Paris, the Japanese pavilion garnered more attention than any other.  Soon Japanese kimonos, fans, lacquer cabinets, tea caddies, folding screens, tea services, and jewelry flooded Paris. ... Artists in particular were drawn to Japanese art.  Among those the Japanese aesthetic influenced were most of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. ... "

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 912

     ***** insert two images of Rouen Cathedral *****

     "Monet's intensive study of the phenomenon of light and color is especially evident in several series of paintings of the same subject.  One series had some forty views of Rouen Cathedral.  For each canvas in this series, Monet observed the Cathedral from the same viewpoint but at different times of the day or under various climactic conditions.  With a scientific precision, he created an unparalleled record of the passing of time as seen in the movement of light over identical forms.  Later critics accused Monet and his companions of destroying form and order for fleeting atmospheric effects, but Monet focused on light and color precisely to reach a greater understanding of form."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 913

     "Monet's experiences painting outdoors sharpened his focus on the roles light and color play in capturing an instantaneous representation of atmosphere and climate.  Monet, of all the Impressionists, carried the systematic investigation of light and color furthest. "

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, p. 913

     "If artists use complimentary colors side by side over large enough areas, the colors intensify each other, unlike the effect of small quantities of adjoining mixed pigments, which blend into neutral tones.  Furthermore, the juxtaposition of colors on a canvas for the eye to fuse at a distance produces a more intense hue than the same colors mixed on the palatte.  It is not strictly true the Impressionists used only primary hues, juxtaposing them to create secondary colors (blue and yellow, for example to create green).  But they did achieve remarkably brilliant effects with their characteristically short, choppy brushstrokes, which so accurately caught the vibrating quality of light.  The fact that their canvas surfaces look unintelligible at close range and their forms and objects appear only when the eye fuses the strokes at a certain distance accounts for much of the early adverse criticism leveled at their work.  One such conjecture was that the Impressionists fired their paint at the canvas with pistols."

- Gardner's Art Through The Ages, 11th edition, Vol. II, pp. 912 - 913