Those Who Stay, by Umberto Boccioni is a moving piece in that the people whom he painted here are all basically heartbroken and don't know what to expect in the coming days, or weeks. They have sent their loved ones off on a train that is unknown to them during this time. They don't know if they will ever see them again after this day. I believe the sadness and disparity is also brought out in the fact that Boccioni didn't paint the scene as a bright, sunny day that they have had to say farewell to their lovers or family. He paints it as a dark and stormy night because that is what's going on in the people's lives at this moment. Their thoughts are askew, their hearts are forlorn, and they can only hope that they will see their loved ones again.
On a teaching literature blog comparing the series of States of Mind to the popular movie the Hunger Games, this particular painting is compared to the feeling and the moments where the families are sending their children who've been chosen to be in the Hunger Games. They don't know what they will face in the coming days. They don't know the obstacles that their young children are going to have to go through. They know that the possibility of them coming back to them is slim to none. Much like the mindset of the people Boccioni has painted for us here. This painting may have been influenced by Joseph Turner's Rain, Wind, and Speed that was produced around 1844.
This painting also depicted a train and the new technological innovations that were happening around that time. Though, J M W Turner's painting is much happier. The colors are beautiful and bright. It makes the viewer excited for the future of technology much unlike Boccioni's painting here makes a viewer much anxious and afraid of not only trains, but the whole direction that the world was moving in regards to technology at this time.
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