The morning commute in France just got a lot more beautiful. The SNCF (French National Railway Company) recently customized their public train system with a collection of glorious impressionist artworks. The art and culture promo was completed in collaboration with 3M and is set up exclusively this summer for trains running from Gare Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny. The chosen trains are covered with reproductions of Impressionist paintings gathered from the Musée d'Orsay, photographs of architecture from Versaille, and images taken from Cinema Gaumont, allowing passengers a tranquil voyage through the country.
The project further examines ties between art and railroads—the J line linking the two stops travels through areas that served as landscape inspiration for some of the featured artists, before arriving at the summer home where Claude Monet painted his Water Lilies series. Additionally, the famous Musée d’Orsay actually started life as a railway station prior to becoming a museum.
The delightful impressionist trains aim to instill a peace of mind for the thousands of passengers traveling along the railway lines each day with their images in one of three striking themes: gardens and water, Paris and industrialization, and lovely local landscapes, that are strewn throughout the carriage interiors.
All images via Christophe Recoura
