The Arcueil Aqueduct at Sceaux Railroad Crossing

Armand Guillaumin painted this aqueduct shortly after it was built. Passing over a train line to the Paris suburb of Sceaux, the aqueduct was constructed during a period of rapid development around the French capital. Guillaumin encountered such scenes while working in security for a railroad company, a job that allowed him to travel and sketch in different places on the outskirts of the city.

Guillaumin shared this interest in the Paris suburbs with his fellow Impressionists—especially Paul Cezanne and Camille Pissarro, with whom he painted in the 1870s. He exhibited this painting in the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877.