# The Third-Class Carriage

**Honoré Daumier** (French, 1808–1879)  
1864  
Oil on canvas  
25 3/4 x 35 1/2 in. (65.4 x 90.2 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 29.100.129. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436095).

## About this work

In the cramped wooden compartment of a third-class railway carriage, an old woman sits with her hands folded on a basket, flanked by a young mother nursing her baby and a sleeping boy, while rows of passengers in top hats crowd the benches behind. Honoré Daumier, famous as a satirical caricaturist, here turns his sharp eye on the poorer travellers of modern Paris with sympathy rather than mockery. He returned to the subject several times, in paintings and watercolour. The figures sit side by side, yet each seems alone with their thoughts.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Honoré Daumier painted this in 1864, aged 56. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Honoré Daumier](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/honore-daumier)

French, 1808–1879; born in Marseilles; died in Valmondois

Daumier grew up in Paris after his family left Marseilles, and learned lithography as a young man. For some forty years he drew for satirical papers such as La Caricature and Le Charivari, producing around four thousand lithographs that mocked politicians, lawyers and the habits of the Parisian middle class; a caricature of King Louis-Philippe earned him six months in prison in 1832. His paintings and drawings, such as The Third-Class Carriage, treat ordinary people with deep sympathy.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was 56
- Real size: about 26 × 36 in (65 × 90 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Children, Men, Women, Trains, Nursing
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1081.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1081/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-third-class-carriage-met-436095).