By MISSY ROSENTHAL 

Monet's La Gare Saint Lazare epitomizes the Industrial Revolution and the hopes of socio-economic views in the 19th century. Claude Monet illustrates a beaming metropolis of rail and a free market economy, a system economist Adam Smith argued in favor for in the 1700s. Smith advocated for laissez-faire economics, a system free from governmental rule. He firmly believed in the principle of the invisible hand, meaning the market itself will establish its ebbs and flows. As portrayed in Monet's work, Smith felt that industry functioned best with a division of labor, meaning each workers did only one task. This made for a more efficient working environment. 

Monet shows the worker on the railroad and the passerby prospectively. La Gare Saint Lazare can be seen as an visual representation of struggling socio-political ideologies. On the left side of painting trains and industry dominate the canvas, showcasing a desire for industrial success or capitalism, while on the opposite side of the piece people gather longing for equal rights and pay, or the basis of Marxist communism. 

Monet blurs the lines between these world intentionally, not only to create a beautiful work, but to showcases that these two ideologies were rediscovered in the wake of industrialization. Claude Monet masterfully portrays the social, political and economic ideas of Adam Smith and Karl Marx in La Gare Saint Lazare.