Édouard Manet’s “The Railway” is one of the most famous paintings in the world, but when it first debuted in 1874, critics hated it. To them, it seemed trivial—just a woman and child near a train station. What they missed was the deeper meaning. This painting symbolized change. Paris was modernizing at a rapid pace, and railways were transforming the city, accelerating the rhythm of life. In the painting, the woman and child are right next to each other, but they’re disconnected. The child is fi