Tracks to Modernity

An artistic and historical journey on the theme of the train through works by major artists of the 19th and 20th centuries such as Monet, Caillebotte, Spilliaert, Boccioni, Severini, Léger, De Chirico, Mondrian, Servranckx, Caviglioni, Delvaux and Magritte.

From the time of their first appearance in the early nineteenth century through to the mid-twentieth century, railway trains were a particular subject of interest for artists. Their depictions capture the sensitivities of their specific periods, illustrating both fear of and enthusiasm for a new industrial world, launched at full speed but now seen as out of control.
They portray railway stations and cities redesigned to accommodate them, and new locations associated with equally new opportunities for travel. Artists are captivated by the lights and swirls of steam from the locomotives. They become worshippers of technology, mesmerized by the speed and almighty power of railway engines and rendering the plastic beauty of their curves, pistons and marvellous mechanisms. They depict variously the machine and the fantasy, their feet on the ground or their heads in the dreamworld of travel and inner adventure. Tracks to Modernity, the flagship exhibition of the EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS festival, gives you a chance to explore these worlds, embraced in their time by numerous artists of all artistic directions.