Paris Exhibition of 1937
| EXPO Paris 1937 | |
|---|---|
The Eiffel tower, with the German pavilion on left and the Soviet pavilion on the right
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| Overview | |
| BIE-class | Universal exposition |
| Category | Second category General Exposition |
| Name | Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques appliqués à la vie moderne |
| Building | Palais de Chaillot |
| Area | 101 hectares (250 acres) |
| Visitors | 31,040,955 |
| Participant(s) | |
| Countries | 44 |
| Location | |
| Country | France |
| City | Paris |
| Venue | Trocadéro, Champ-de-Mars, Embankment of the Seine |
| Coordinates | 48°51′44″N 02°17′17.7″E / 48.86222°N 2.288250°E |
| Timeline | |
| Opening | 25 May 1937 |
| Closure | 25 November 1937 |
| Universal expositions | |
| Previous | Brussels International Exposition (1935) in Brussels |
| Next | 1939 New York World's Fair in New York City |
| Specialized Expositions | |
| Previous | ILIS 1936 in |
| Next | Second International Aeronautic Exhibition in Helsinki |
The Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Musée de l'Homme and the Palais de Tokyo, which houses the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, were created for this exhibition.
At first the centerpiece of the exposition was to be a 2,300-foot (700 m) tower ("Phare du Monde") which was to have a spiraling road to a parking garage located at the top and a hotel and restaurant located above that. The idea was abandoned as far too expensive.
Fitting in the architectural master-plan of the master architect Jacques Gréber at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, and inspired by the shape of a grain elevator, the Canadian pavilion included Joseph-Émile Brunet's 28-foot sculpture of a buffalo (1937). Paintings by Brunet, sculpted panels on the outside of the structure, and several thematic stands inside the Canadian pavilion depicted aspects of Canadian culture.
The Spanish pavilion attracted attention as the exposition took place during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish pavilion was built by the Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert. The pavilion, set up by the Republican government, included Pablo Picasso's famous painting Guernica, a depiction of the horrors of war, Alexander Calder's sculpture Mercury Fountain and Joan Miró's painting Catalan peasant in revolt.
Two of the other notable pavilions were those of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The organization of the world exhibition had placed the German and the Soviet pavilions directly across from each other.Hitler had desired to withdraw from participation, but his architect Albert Speer convinced him to participate after all, showing Hitler his plans for the German pavilion. Speer later revealed in his autobiographies that he had had a clandestine look at the plans for the Soviet pavilion, and had designed the German pavilion to represent a bulwark against Communism.
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