The Berlin-Potsdam Railway

Adolph von Menzel painted "The Berlin-Potsdam Railway" in 1847, documenting the new railway line that had opened in 1838 as one of the first in Germany. Menzel, who would become the most important German painter of the 19th century, here captures the transformative impact of industrialization on the Prussian landscape. The painting shows a remarkably modern sensibility in treating an industrial subject as worthy of serious art.

Menzel renders the railway cutting through the landscape with naturalistic observation and atmospheric handling. The plein-air quality of the painting, with its attention to light effects and the integration of the industrial subject into the landscape, anticipates Impressionist concerns.