On the Train, Rome to Naples

From the Getty Museum record

Speaking in an interview on Paris Radio, Brassaï remarked: "When I do a picture of someone, I like to render the immobility of the face--of the person thrown back on his own inner solitude--I hunt for what is permanent." This image of a man sleeping on the train bound for Naples reveals Brassaï's enduring interest in human behavior. He studied his subjects carefully, often repeatedly, before making an exposure. Brassaï constructed his images element by element--the man's head turned just toward the light, the curtain billowing as if blown by the rush of the train--with the result that the people in his photographs appear to fit their environment unmistakably.