Gezicht op de galerij met machines en het Franse deel van de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1885 in Antwerpen before 1885

This anonymous print depicts the French pavilion at the 1885 Antwerp World’s Fair. It offers a view of the machinery gallery. The image conveys a sense of national pride and technological advancement, ideas that were central to the culture surrounding these fairs. The print visualizes 19th-century Europe's fascination with industrial progress. The ordered display of machines and engineering feats spoke to the era's faith in technology. The French section of the fair was, of course, intended to promote French industry on an international stage. The World's Fair itself was an institution designed to promote a particular vision of global cooperation and economic exchange. But the national pavilions also made clear the competitive nature of this project. To understand this image fully, we can consult archival material about the planning of the fair, as well as contemporary accounts of visitors’ experiences. In doing so, we begin to understand the social and institutional context in which the print was produced, as well as the cultural values that it reflects.