States of Mind: The Farewells

Italian artist Umberto Boccioni painted this chaotic train station scene in 1911, the first in his three-part States of Mind series. Steam, movement, and human emotion blend together as figures embrace and separate. The number 6943 appears on a locomotive emerging from swirling chaos.

The series attempts to capture the psychological experience of modern travel. "The Farewells" shows the moment of departure: bodies merging with smoke, faces dissolving into abstraction, the energy of the station vibrating through the composition. The companion pieces, "Those Who Go" and "Those Who Stay," explore the emotions of leaving and remaining.

Boccioni was a leader of Italian Futurism, a movement that celebrated speed, technology, and modern life. The painting was first owned by Futurist founder Filippo Tommaso Marinetti before eventually coming to the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a gift from Nelson Rockefeller.