Project Description

Huile sur toile

Dimensions : 50 cm x 70 cm

The Brussels Atomium

Brussels Universal and International Exhibition

Signed lower left : guy you are ? date 1958 – Inscription on the back : porte Benelux expo 1958

The Universal Exhibition of 1958 or Expo 58, officially Brussels Universal and International Exhibition, was held from 17 April 19 octobre 1958 on the Heysel plateau and attracted nearly 42 million visitors.

The Expo 58 leaves a deep memory in Belgium. It is also the pretext for major upheavals and works in the city of Brussels, whose boulevards have been transformed into urban highways.. The Atomium, built for the occasion, has become one of the essential brand images of Brussels.

First Universal Exhibition after World War II

The event is deeply linked to its time. In 1958, the traces of the conflict in Western Europe are beginning to fade. The Cold War temporarily gives way to Peaceful Coexistence. L'ON, NATO and the European Economic Community, just created. The troubles heralding the future decolonization are not yet perceived in Belgium. The first sputnik is in orbit, technological innovations are emerging one after another. In the heart of the Glorious Thirties, the population enters the consumer society and hopes to be at the dawn of a period of peace, prosperity and progress. This context encourages the participating countries to compete in ingenuity in the design of their pavilions and in the novelties presented..

The exhibition is bathed in an atmosphere of wonder and euphoria.

Originally planned for the year 1955 and postponed due to the Korean War and international tensions, the Exhibition is inaugurated, after three years of work, by King Baudouin 17 avril 1958 and runs until 19 October of the same year.

At the Heysel site, whose exhibition center has already hosted the Universal Exhibition in Brussels from 1935, are joined the park of Laeken, the Ossegem wood and the Belvedere castle and its park, the whole representing a surface of 200 hectares. The movement of visitors is ensured by a cable car and a network of trains.

Other works offered by the Gallery