What did Claude Monet paint in his Gare Saint-Lazare series?

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Painting by Claude Monet, Self-portrait in Beret, 1886, showing Monet with a full beard, dark beret, and coat against a light, textured background. — Claude Monet *Self-Portrait with a Beret*, oil on canvas by Claude Monet, 1886; in a private collection.

In his Gare Saint-Lazare series, executed during the winter of 1876–77, Claude Monet painted train engines within the station's great shed. These works famously captured the locomotives belching smoke and steam, marking a departure from traditional Impressionist subjects of the time.1

This series is often regarded as Monet's first attempt at his celebrated method of painting the same motif under varying light and weather conditions. The paintings are noted for their industrial subject matter, which drew comparisons to J.M.W. Turner’s Rain, Steam, and Speed—The Great Western Railway and served as a precursor to the mechanical themes later explored by Italian Futurists.1