The Third-Class Carriage

Daumier places passengers in the cheapest railway carriage at the centre of his painting. The shared, crowded space belongs to industrial urban life. This version remains unfinished and retains a transfer grid; it should be distinguished from related finished treatments of the subject.

The woman on the left cradles an infant. Ordinary childcare continues within a crowded carriage offering little private space.

The older hooded woman faces forward. Her substantial, still figure anchors the centre of the foreground group.

A woven basket rests on her lap. Personal possessions must be kept close within the shared passenger space.

The child on the right slumps against the seat. Daumier distinguishes passengers through posture without supplying their personal histories.

Dark-coated people fill the rear bench. Repeated heads convey the density of the shared space.

Light enters through the left window. It distinguishes the foreground group while leaving other passengers less clearly defined.

Daumier earned his living drawing for satirical journals and was imprisoned in 1832 for a caricature of Louis-Philippe. Observation of contemporary society connected his prints, paintings and sculpture.