Wall is influenced by the writings of Charles Baudelaire, who coined the phrase 'The Painter of Modern Life' in his essay of 1863. As a photographer of modern life, Wall finds poetry in the overlooked and ordinary aspects of our urban surroundings.

'Baudelaire recognised that, with the rise of the everyday, of the actual lived life of individuals, everything of significance would have to be expressed in terms of that actual moment-to-moment lived experience...Everything would be found somewhere in 'the street...' - Jeff Wall