Daumier had drawn and painted images of rail travel since the 1840s. This version of The Third-Class Carriage appears to be closely related to an 1864 watercolor now in the Walters Art Museum. The painting is unfinished, and is squared for transfer.

The Third-Class Carriage evidences Daumier's interest, as also seen in his graphic works, in the lives of working-class Parisians. Third-class railway carriages were cramped, dirty, open compartments with hard benches, filled with those who could not afford second or first-class tickets. In the bench facing the viewer are seated, from left, a woman holding her baby, an older woman with her hands clasped atop a basket, and a young boy asleep. Seated behind them are anonymous rows of women and men.

The painting entered the Metropolitan Museum in 1929 as part of the H. O. Havemeyer bequest.

According to Wikipedia.