Pennsylvania Station Excavation
George Bellows captures the sheer, gritty scale of New York City's industrial boom in this dramatic scene of the original Pennsylvania Station being dug out around 1909. Massive, shadowy buildings loom over a frozen, snow-covered pit where tiny workers look like ants next to a belching steam shovel. As a leading figure of the Ashcan School, Bellows loved painting the raw, unpolished energy of the city, turning a messy, chaotic construction site into a moody, atmospheric masterpiece of billowing smoke, steam, and twilight.
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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