What people in 1900 thought the year 2000 would look like
There are few things as fascinating as seeing what people in the past dreamed about the future.
"France
in the Year 2000" is one example. The series of paintings, made by
Jean-Marc Côté and other French artists in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910,
shows artist depictions of what life might look like in the year 2000.
The first series of images were printed and enclosed in cigarette and
cigar boxes around the time of the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris,
according to the Public Domain Review, then later turned into postcards.
Lots
of their ideas involve mechanized devices, flying, or a combination of
the two. Some, strangely, involve people interacting in a very close and
personal way with marine life. As Open Culture points out, however, there are no images of space travel.
Some
of the portraits are fantastic -- swashbucklers riding on giant
seahorses, anyone? But others are actually surprisingly accurate visions
of our current era, including farming machines, helicopters, and what
looks like a precursor to the new robot vaccum, the iRobot Roomba
vacuum:
There is something vaguely familiar about these visions of mechanized farming, for example:
Perhaps this is the precursor to the motorhome?
However, some of the other machines didn't quite come to pass:
The series also features a great assortment of flying machines and devices, including a helicopter:
One drawing features an airship, which were being used at the time, but fell out of favor after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937:
The series imagines small winged planes or devices being used by cabbies, postmen, police, firemen and hunters:
Here's their conception of a "war plane" and "war cars":
Strangely, the series also includes some fairly far-out examples of people cavorting with marine life:
And finally, the "Whale bus," which really ought to be a thing by now:
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