As the center of Paris became an increasingly costly place to live, people with moderate incomes moved further out to places like Grenelle, on the southwest border of the city. Industry was also routed out of central Paris for aesthetic and sanitary reasons so that smokestacks were a common sight along the city’s perimeter. Grenelle was home to a number of metal-working industries, and in this scene the Eiffel Tower, close to the composition’s center, adopts the form of a factory smokestack. A white cloud at its tip suggests a puff of smoke.