Gallery: how contemporary artists see the world of the future. Predictions for the future in the arts Video calls and photo sharing

Predictions in the arts

Any work of art is directed to the future. In the history of art, one can find many examples of artists warning their fellow citizens about an impending social danger: wars, splits, revolutions, etc. The ability to foresee is inherent in great artists, perhaps it is precisely in this that the main strength of art lies.

Albrecht Dürer The German Renaissance painter and graphic artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) created a series of engravings "Apocalypse" (Greek apokalypsis - revelation - this word serves as the title of one of the ancient church books that contains prophecies about the end of the world).

Albrecht Dürer artist German painter and graphic artist, recognized as the largest European master of woodcuts, who raised it to the level of real art. One of the greatest masters of the Western European Renaissance. The first art theorist among Northern European artists, Born: May 21, 1471, Nuremberg, Germany Died: April 6, 1528 (aged 56), Nuremberg, Germany Married to: Agnes Dürer Parents: Albrecht Dürer Senior ̆

xylography Woodcut (ancient Greek ξύλον - tree and γράφω - I write, draw) - a type of printed graphics, woodcut, the oldest wood engraving technique or an impression on paper made from such an engraving. A series of engravings by A. Durer "Apocalypse" was made in this technique.

The artist expressed an alarming expectation of world-historical changes, which, indeed, shook Germany after a while. The most significant of this series is the engraving "The Four Horsemen". Horsemen - Death, Judgment, War, Pestilence - rush furiously across the earth, sparing neither kings nor commoners. Swirling clouds and horizontal strokes of the background increase the speed of this frenzied gallop. But the archer's arrow rests on the right edge of the engraving, as if stopping this movement.

According to the plot of the Apocalypse, horsemen appear on the ground in turn, but the artist specifically placed them side by side. Everything is like in life - war, pestilence, death, judgment come together. It is believed that the key to this placement of figures is Durer's desire to warn his contemporaries and descendants that, having crushed the wall that the artist erected in the form of the edge of the engraving, the riders will inevitably break into the real world.

Etchings by F. Goya, paintings "Guernica" by P. Picasso, "Bolshevik" by B. Kustodiev, "New Planet" by K. Yuon and many others can be considered examples of predictions in the art of social change and upheaval.

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes; March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos, near Zaragoza - April 16, 1828, Bordeaux) - Spanish artist, engraver.

This is how Goya captured the feat of the young Maria Agostina, the defender of Zaragoza (sheet “What courage!”).

K.Yuon "New Planet". This work depicts an unusual phenomenon - the birth of a new planet. Using symbols and allegories, reflecting on past grandiose events, K.F. Yuon is trying to comprehend the meaning of the October Revolution. This is a global phenomenon. And the reaction of people to such an unprecedented event is ambiguous.

In the painting “New Planet”, the birth of a new cosmic body is accompanied by bright flashes that illuminate people. Witnesses of an unusual phenomenon that destroys the usual way of life, the old world, react differently to what is happening. Someone sees in this the birth of a new, beautiful world. They hold out their hands hopefully towards the bright light.

Some people don't have the strength to go. They fall exhausted and crawl with their last strength to this new one. For others, the collapse of the old world causes panic horror. They may perceive the appearance of a new planet as the end of the world. People in fear fall on their faces, cover their heads, trying to hide, to escape from the impending catastrophe. The cosmic cataclysm leaves no one indifferent.

In the painting "Bolshevik" Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (1878-1927) used a metaphor (hidden meaning), which for many decades has not been unraveled. Using this example, one can understand how the content of the picture is filled with new meaning, how the era, with its new views, changed value orientations, puts new meanings into the content.

For many years, this picture was interpreted as a solemn hymn to a staunch, firm spirit, unbending revolutionary, towering over the ordinary world, which he overshadows with a red flag soaring into the sky. Events of the last decade of the twentieth century. made it possible to understand what the artist consciously or, most likely, unconsciously felt at the beginning of the century. Today, this picture, like K. Yuon's "New Planet", is filled with new content. But how the artists of that time managed to feel the coming social changes so accurately remains a mystery.

In the art of music, an example of this kind of foresight is the piece for orchestra "The Unanswered Question" ("Space Landscape") by the American composer C. Ives (1874-1954). It was created at the beginning of the 20th century. - at a time when scientific discoveries were made in the field of space exploration and the creation of aircraft (K. Tsiolkovsky). This piece, built on the dialogue of string and woodwind instruments, became a philosophical reflection on the place and role of man in the Universe.

C. Ives (1874-1954).

The Russian artist Aristarkh Vasilievich Lentulov (1882-1943) sought to express the inner energy of an object in his dynamic compositions. Crushing objects, pushing them against each other, shifting planes and plans, he created the feeling of a world changing at lightning speed. In this restless, shifting, rushing and split space one can guess the familiar outlines of Moscow cathedrals, views of Novgorod, historical events expressed in allegorical form, flowers and even portraits.

Aristarkh Vasilievich Lentulov (1882-1943) Self-portrait

Lentulov is excited by the bottomless depths of human consciousness, which is in constant motion. He is attracted by the opportunity to convey what is generally indescribable, for example, the spreading sound in the film “Ring. Ivan the Great belltower".

A. Lentulov. Ringing. Ivan the Great belltower

In the paintings "Moscow" and "St. Basil's" unprecedented, fantastic forces shift established forms and concepts, a chaotic mixture of colors conveys kaleidoscopic, fragile images of the city and individual structures that break into countless elements.

Basil the Blessed

All this appears before the audience as a moving, shimmering, sounding, emotionally saturated world. The wide use of metaphor helps the artist to turn ordinary things into vivid generalized images.

P. Picasso

painting "Guernica" by P. Picasso

Guernica - Pablo Picasso. 1937 Picasso's expressive 1937 canvas was a public protest against the Nazi bombing of the Basque city of Guernica. His painting is full of personal feelings of suffering and violence. On the right side of the picture, the figures run away from the burning building, from the window of which a woman falls; on the left, a sobbing mother holds her child in her arms, and a triumphant bull tramples a fallen warrior.

The broken sword, the crushed flower and dove, the skull (hidden inside the horse's body), and the crucifixion-like posture of the fallen warrior are all generalized symbols of war and death. The bull symbolizes cruelty, and the horse symbolizes the suffering of the innocent.

Together, these violent figures form a semblance of a collage, silhouetted against a dark background, brightly lit by a woman with a lamp and an eye with an electric light bulb instead of a pupil. Monochrome painting, reminiscent of newspaper illustrations, and a sharp contrast of light and dark enhance the powerful emotional impact.

Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin Soviet painter, Honored Artist of the RSFSR was born in the city of Khvalynsk, Saratov province. In 1897-1905. he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the class of V.A. Serov, after which he continued his studies at the studio of A. Azhbe in Munich and at private academies in Paris. At the beginning of his creative activity, Petrov-Vodkin was strongly influenced by the German and French masters of symbolism and modernity. He was one of the first to reflect symbolist tendencies in Russian painting.

Bathing a red horse

History of creation In 1912, Petrov-Vodkin lived in the south of Russia, in an estate near Kamyshin. There is an opinion that the picture was painted in the village of Gusevka. It was then that he made the first sketches for the picture. And also the first, unpreserved version of the canvas, known from black and white photography, was written. The picture was a work of everyday rather than symbolic, as happened with the second option, it depicted just a few boys with horses. This first version was destroyed by the author, probably shortly after his return to St. Petersburg. Petrov-Vodkin painted the horse from a real stallion named Boy, who lived on the estate. To create the image of a teenager sitting on top of him, the artist used the features of his nephew Shura.

It is believed that the horse was originally bay, and that the master changed its color, having become acquainted with the color range of Novgorod icons, which he was shocked by. The collection and cleaning of icons in 1912 experienced its heyday. From the very beginning, the painting caused numerous controversies, in which it was invariably mentioned that such horses did not exist. However, the artist claimed that he adopted this color from ancient Russian icon painters: for example, on the icon “The Miracle of the Archangel Michael”, the horse is depicted completely red. As in the icons, this picture does not show a mixture of colors, the colors are contrasting and, as it were, collide in confrontation.

The perception of contemporaries The picture so impressed contemporaries with its monumentality and fatefulness that it was reflected in the work of many masters of brush and word. So, Sergei Yesenin's lines were born: I have now become more stingy in desires. My life! Or you dreamed of me! As if I am a spring resonant early Ride on a pink horse. The red horse acts as the Destiny of Russia, which the fragile and young rider is unable to hold. According to another version, the Red Horse is Russia itself, identified with Blok's "steppe mare". In this case, it is impossible not to note the visionary gift of the artist, who symbolically predicted the “red” fate of Russia in the 20th century with his painting.

In the history of art, one can find many examples of artists warning their fellow citizens about an impending social danger: wars, splits, revolutions, etc. The ability to provide is inherent in great artists, perhaps it is precisely in this that the main strength of art lies.

The German painter and graphic artist of the Renaissance Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) created a series of engravings "Apocalypse" (Greek apokalypsis - revelation - this word serves as the title of one of the ancient church books, which contains prophecies about the end of the world). The artist expressed an alarming expectation of world-historical changes, which really shook Germany after a while. The most significant of this series is the engraving "The Four Horsemen". Horsemen - Death, Judgment, War, Pestilence - rush furiously across the earth, sparing neither kings nor commoners. Swirling clouds and horizontal strokes of the background increase the speed of this frenzied gallop. But the archer's arrow rests on the right edge of the engraving, as if stopping this movement.

According to the plot of the Apocalypse, horsemen appear on the ground in turn, but the artist specifically placed them side by side. Everything is like in life - war, pestilence, death, judgment come together. It is believed that the key to this placement of figures is Durer's desire to warn his contemporaries and descendants that, having crushed the wall that the artist erected in the form of the edge of the engraving, the riders will inevitably break into the real world.

Etchings by F. Goya, paintings “Guernica” by P. Picasso, “Bolshevik” by B. Kustodiev, “New Planet” by K. Yuon and many others can be considered examples of predictions by the art of social change and upheaval.

In the painting Bolshevik, Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (1878–1927) used a metaphor (hidden meaning) that had not been unraveled for many decades. Using this example, one can understand how the content of the picture is filled with new meaning, how the era, with its new views, changed value orientations, puts new meanings into the content.

For many years, this picture was interpreted as a solemn hymn to a staunch, firm spirit, unbending revolutionary, towering over the ordinary world, which he overshadows with a red flag soaring into the sky. Events of the last decade of the twentieth century. made it possible to understand what the artist consciously or, most likely, unconsciously felt at the beginning of the century. Today, this picture, like K. Yuon's "New Planet", is filled with new content. But how the artists of that time managed to feel the coming social changes so accurately remains a mystery.

In the art of music, an example of this kind of foresight is the piece for orchestra "The Unanswered Question" ("Space Landscape") by the American composer C. Ives (1874-1954). It was created at the beginning of the 20th century. - at a time when scientific discoveries were made in the field of space exploration and the creation of aircraft (K. Tsiolkovsky). This piece, built on the dialogue of strings and woodwinds, has become a philosophical reflection on the place and role of man in the universe.

The Russian artist Aristarkh Vasilievich Lentulov (1882-1943) sought to express the inner energy of an object in his dynamic compositions. Crushing objects, pushing them against each other, shifting planes and plans, he created the feeling of a world changing at lightning speed. In this restless, shifting, rushing and split space, the familiar outlines of Moscow cathedrals, views of Novgorod, historical events expressed in allegorical form, flowers and even portraits are guessed.

Lentulov is excited by the bottomless depths of human consciousness, which is in constant motion. He is attracted by the opportunity to convey what is generally indescribable, for example, the spreading sound in the film “Ring. Ivan the Great belltower".

In the paintings "Moscow" and "St. Basil's" unprecedented, fantastic forces shift established forms and concepts, a chaotic mixture of colors conveys kaleidoscopic, fragile images of the city and individual structures that break into countless elements. All this appears before the audience as a moving, shimmering, sounding, emotionally saturated world. The wide use of metaphor helps the artist to turn ordinary things into vivid generalized images.

In Russian musical art, the theme of bells has found a vivid embodiment in the work of various composers of the past and present: (M. Glinka, M. Mussorgsky, S. Rachmaninov, G. Sviridov, V. Gavrilin, A. Petrov, etc.).

Ecology of consumption. Does science fiction predict the future or inspire future discoveries? When reading any of these books, where bionic prostheses and tablets were described decades or even centuries ago, this question inevitably arises in the reader.

Does science fiction predict the future or inspire future discoveries? When reading any of these books, where bionic prostheses and tablets were described decades or even centuries ago, this question inevitably arises in the reader.

We have collected for you examples of works, the authors of which looked into the water.

1. Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels" predicted the discovery of two moons of Mars

This satirical work from 1726 tells of a man named Gulliver who travels through different worlds. For example, one of them is inhabited by midgets, and the other by giants. When Gulliver finds himself on the island of Laputa, local astronomers notice that two moons are orbiting Mars. More than 150 years later, in 1877, it was discovered that Mars does indeed have two moons, Phobos and Deimos.

2. Mary Shelley predicted modern transplants in Frankenstein

In 1818, when Shelley wrote Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, science was just beginning to explore a new field: the resuscitation of dead tissue with electricity. And while the methods of the time were crude to say the least, they set the stage for future medical breakthroughs, including the organ transplants that Shelley wrote about.

3. Jules Verne predicted an electric submarine in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Jules Verne is one of the most famous visionaries of the 19th century. He made many successful predictions - from lunar modules to solar sails - more than a hundred years before the real discoveries. However, his most famous book is Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The novel was published in 1870 and described an electric submarine 90 years before the invention.

4. Edward Bellamy predicted credit cards in Looking Back

63 years before the creation of credit cards, in 1888, Bellamy published a utopian novel Looking Backward, 2000-1887; Golden Age"; "The Future Century"; "In a Hundred Years"). Julian West falls asleep for 113 years, and when he wakes up in 2000, he finds that everyone uses so-called "credit" cards to buy goods.

5. Hugo Gernsback predicted solar energy in Ralph 124C 41+

This early novel by Gernsbeck - the man for whom science fiction's most famous Hugo Book Awards are named - was written in 1911 but is set in 2660. The novel predicts solar energy, televisions, tape recorders, sound films and space travel.

6. H.G. Wells predicted the atomic bomb in The World Set Free

With his novel The World Set Free, published in 1914, HG Wells not only predicted nuclear weapons, but may have given Dr. Leo Szilard, the first fissioner of the atom, the idea of ​​a devastating atomic bomb. In the Wells universe, the atomic bomb was a uranium hand grenade, that is, a conventional bomb with the addition of radioactivity. Science reached this idea only after thirty years.

7. Huxley predicted mood-boosting pills in Brave New World.

This dark novel portrays a drug-addicted capitalist society that values ​​sexual freedom over monogamy and divides people into castes. In his 1931 book, Huxley foresaw the use of mood-enhancing pills as well as reproductive technology and the problems of overcrowding.

8 George Orwell Predicted Big Brother And Mass Video Surveillance In 1984

In his classic dystopia, Orwell introduces for the first time such concepts as "Big Brother", "doublethink", "newspeak" and "thought police". The 1949 novel depicts a bleak world four decades after the end of World War II. It talks a lot about censorship, propaganda, and the despotic government of the future. Orwell also predicted massive video surveillance and police helicopters.

9. Ray Bradbury predicted in-ear headphones in Fahrenheit 451

This iconic book was written in 1953. It is about a technologically advanced society where books are outlawed and any book found must be burned. The anti-utopia describes, in particular, flat-panel TVs, as well as portable radios, similar in meaning to in-ear headphones and Bluetooth headsets.

10. Robert Heinlein predicted the waterbed in Stranger in a Strange Land.

The protagonist of this 1961 novel, Valentine Michael Smith, raised on Mars and raised by Martians, comes to Earth. In addition to discussing intergalactic politics and other burning topics, the author predicted modern waterbeds decades before they were invented.

11. Arthur Clarke predicted the iPad in A Space Odyssey

This 1968 book by Arthur C. Clarke about an alien civilization creating intelligent life on Earth is replete with discussions of nuclear war, evolution, and the dangers of artificial intelligence in the form of the HAL 9000 supercomputer. But the description of electronic newspapers, very similar to modern tablets, turned out to be the most accurate prediction.

12. John Brunner predicted satellite TV and electric cars in "All Stand on Zanzibar"

Brunner's dystopia was first published in 1968. In addition to the realistic plot, the book contains many examples of the technologies that surround us today, including interactive and satellite television, laser printers, electric cars, and even the decriminalization of marijuana.

13. Martin Caidin in "Cyborg" predicted bionic prostheses

In this 1972 novel, former astronaut Steve Austin is involved in an accident that results in the loss of all but one of his limbs and blindness in one eye. A team of scientists transforms Austin into a cyborg: he gets new legs, a removable eye-camera, and a bionic arm. At the time of the book's release, the first successful transplant of a bionic prosthetic arm was 41 years away.

14. Douglas Adams predicted speech translation apps in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

This book was published in 1971. Arthur Dent receives information from his friend Ford Prefect, secret correspondent for the interstellar guidebook The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that the Earth is about to be destroyed. The pair escape by sneaking onto a spaceship and their strange journey through the universe begins. In the course of the action, the protagonist encounters a universal speech translator, which now, 34 years later, has become a reality.

15. William Gibson predicted cyberspace and computer hackers in Neuromancer

This 1984 action-packed crime novel tells the story of a degraded hacker and cybercriminal who recovers and regains the ability to enter cyberspace. Not only was Neuromancer the first novel to win all three sci-fi awards (Hugo, Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick Award), and inspired the then Wachowski brothers to make The Matrix, it also predicted the advent of cyberspace. and computer hackers. published

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Fantastic books and films can surprise and give more information about the world of the future than real scientific discoveries. And the discoveries themselves in our time rarely cause public shock. Subconsciously, we are ready for almost everything - the image of the future, drawn in the mind, only receives confirmation.

There is a personal time machine in the head, shaped by art for centuries. The predictions of the classics of science fiction that have come true since the era of H. G. Wells remain on hearing. But the fantastic description of the objects of the future remains a game with the imagination. Artistic techniques of literature allow us to imagine even objects by which the author, perhaps, had in mind something completely different - the experience of a modern person will prompt the missing fragments.

Artists are in the least advantageous position. They need to illustrate the fantastic idea as accurately as possible, otherwise the magic of prediction will not work. The picture tightly captures the work of the imagination. It is all the more interesting to find out which canvases do not play a “guessing game” with the viewer, but visually correctly reflect the future.

Let's take a look at the most amazing works that predict the future with astonishing accuracy.

Real futurism

Not all paintings that now look like pure retrofuturism are fiction. The rocket-like car pictured above actually existed. This is a 1959 Cadillac Cyclone, created under the direction of Harley Earle, who was then vice president of the design bureau of General Motors. The double Cyclone was supposed to be a fully functional machine, designed not only for exhibitions, but also for real travel. In reality, he made only a few trips - the project was closed due to the high cost of engineering solutions. What is worth only one dome, covered with silver to protect against ultraviolet radiation - it opened automatically along with the doors and could be removed automatically in the luggage compartment.

The dream car was equipped with a 325-horsepower Cadillac V-8 engine. The flat 4-barrel carburetor worked without an air filter to reduce the height of the body, but there was a filtering air intake on the hood. Exhaust gases went through a double muffler located in the engine compartment immediately behind the engine and exited through the front fenders in front of the wheels. Even then, an autopilot was implemented in the car - the speed of movement and the position of the car on the road were regulated. The autopilot worked thanks to sensors that determined the location on the road using a special strip applied to the road surface. It was assumed that in the future such coverage would become ubiquitous and autopilots would work without fail in all cars.

In addition, the double nose fairings installed instead of the headlights had a radar system that warned of an obstacle on the road. A flashing LED indicator was lit on the dashboard, a special display showed the distance to the object and the length of the braking distance. In a critical situation, the automatic braking system should have worked. But information has not reached our days whether this system was implemented. Otherwise, this car, stuffed with futuristic engineering solutions, was far ahead of its time and looked more interesting than any fantastic posters.

Another poster that looks like an illustration of a science fiction story, and should, in theory, reflect only the designer's thoughts about the cars of the future. But in fact, we again see a very real car that was on the roads three years before the introduction of the Cadillac Cyclone.

The Firebird II concept car reflected the spirit of the space race era. It looked like an airplane, or even a spaceship, descended from the sky onto the road. In the future, such cars could become hybrid: they could easily drive on ordinary highways, and if necessary, take off into the air and continue to move as personal aircraft.

The body was entirely made of titanium. Firebird II received a 225 hp gas turbine power plant. and worked on kerosene. The cooler in the recuperation compartment reduced the exhaust temperature to 538 °C. An autopilot and an obstacle detection system were also implemented here. Firebird II could accelerate to 300 kilometers per hour. The car also received one of the world's first infotainment systems. It allowed not only to listen to the radio and watch programs on a tiny TV in the dashboard, but also to display some information about the state of the car, navigation data, tips and reminders.

General Motors had other "space" concept cars, but that's another story.

The flying car is one of the most frequently seen predictions about the future of transportation and a ubiquitous theme in science fiction. In the past, many futurists thought flying cars would be here soon. They say that in the next decades, individual transport, which will rid the world of traffic jams, will become available to everyone. As we know, even in 2017, a plane car that you can buy and put in a garage remains a dream. But there was an alternative - a frequent helicopter. Of course, not everyone can afford it, but this is an affordable dream, in many respects (flight range, compactness for storage and operation) corresponding to the ideas of ideal transport.

Animal dystopia

A polar bear lying upside down like a house cat, and a porter monkey... What's going on here anyway?

In 1926, the Galveston Daily News put an end to the diversity of the animal world. Literally, they wrote: “The ever-growing human need for more space will force wild animals to join already extinct species.” The article predicts that the animals will no longer exist in the wild and will only be found in zoos unless they are used as livestock or pet/service animals.

An article whose predictions we have not yet lived to come true claims that rats and mice will be completely exterminated (along with mosquitoes and flies), and that cows will become so fat that they will move slowly like pigs.

Fortunately, the frightening prediction did not come true. On the other hand, there are trends in the world related to human impact on the environment, which do not completely dismiss this prediction.

Utopia about suburbs and reality

First, let's look at a typical mistake of the past. Yes, in everything that concerns cities, predictors were wrong more often than ever. Practice has shown that cities change at a surprisingly slow rate.

Innovative American architect Frank Wright depicted the concept of Broadacre City in the early 1930s, one of the first designs for an "ecological city". No cars, noisy crowds, industrial buildings - everything is very similar to life in a quiet, calm suburb. The suburbs seemed utopian to people living in overcrowded, smoky cities. Wright believed that not only did people live much longer, on average, one to two inches taller due to better health, thanks to a quiet life in peaceful suburbs. In fact, the suburbs would be so beneficial to mankind that urban housing would be completely eliminated, and the construction of high-rise block skyscrapers would become illegal.

But there are also reverse examples, when ideas about the architecture of the cities of the future are surprisingly accurate. In this frame from a 1930s sci-fi film, visionaries of the past depict New York City in the 1980s. 250-story buildings, wide streets with multi-lane traffic, multi-level traffic - very close to the current state of the city.

Closer than we think

The highway connecting Russia and the USA. Such a project really existed.

A snowplow that burns through the snow in its path. Pure fantasy.

A house that rotates with the sun to get more energy. Now solar panels are doing this task more efficiently.

However, it should be noted that, to a certain extent, the forecast came true - instead of the house itself, in some energy solutions, the blades of the turbine of a steam engine operating under the influence of sunlight rotate, as a result of which electricity is produced. A steam engine is also a way to accumulate solar energy: excess heat is used to heat water in pressurized tanks - in this state, the heated water does not evaporate, but accumulates heat.

Indoor stadiums serving various events - here a hit in 10 out of 10.

Cars powered by solar energy. Now there are a lot of such projects. In 1982, inventor Hans Tolstrup drove the solar-powered Quiet Achiever across Australia from west to east at a speed of just 20 km/h. In 1996, the winner of the IV International Solar Car Rally drove 3,000 km at a speed of almost 90 km/h, and in some sections - 135 km/h.

With all the obvious successes of solar vehicles, this forecast can hardly be called 100% come true. Yes, the testers set many world records for range and speed of movement, but such machines remained the lot of enthusiasts. With our current technology, a conventional gasoline internal combustion engine remains the more efficient solution. Solar panels can't provide enough power for a typical day-to-day car. In addition, in regions with a small number of clear days, light energy remains only an auxiliary source of electricity.

computerized train.

Radebo became one of the most famous futurist artists. He published a comic about the future every week from 1958 to 1962. And even earlier, in 1940, Radebaugh painted a series of advertising posters for the Bohn Aluminum & Brass Corporation. The images from these posters not only remain among the most expressive examples of futuristic graphics of their time, but also show the world of today with amazing accuracy.

Accurate Prediction

And a few dozen more similar posters.

Comic Book World: Dark and Real Futurism

Not only Radebo drew comics about the future. Works published over 80 years ago, between 1929 and 1939, predicted life in the 21st century with frightening accuracy, including plastic surgery, moonwalking, artificial organs.

Artists predicted that in the future, scientists would develop machines that read minds and project them onto a screen. Advances in the field of neural interfaces have made these fantasies a reality.

french futurism

A series of illustrations En L'An 2000 ("Year 2000") was prepared for the Paris International Exhibition of 1900. For many years they forgot about it, but in 1986 the writer Isaac Asimov came across the drawings. He prepared the famous book Days of the Future: A Vision of the Year 2000 by People of the 19th Century. Now a complete selection of drawings can be found on the Wikimedia Commons website - some of these predictions can be called very accurate, or close to reality.

The Frenchman Albert Robidot (picture of a video telephone from his 1894 book) was both a science fiction writer and a talented artist. In the 1880s, he wrote a trilogy of novels about the future, becoming the ancestor of steampunk. Often ordinary phrases from his books can be interpreted as gloomy prophecies, for example: “What an amazing sight for our descendants will be a live horse - a sight completely new and full of the greatest interest for people who are used to flying through the air!”

Robidot predicted (and in places illustrated) submarines, tanks, battleships, aviation, videophones, distance learning, distance shopping, intercoms, video intercoms, videodiscs, video libraries, television, reality shows, video surveillance systems (including the concept of Big Brother), chemical weapons , bacteriological weapons, gas masks, nuclear weapons, man-made disasters, skyscrapers, drywall, social changes (emancipation of women, mass tourism, environmental pollution), other things and phenomena.

Many technologies that seemed like a wonderful (or terrifying) future 50, 100 or 200 years ago are now taken for granted.

The article "The Electric House of the Future" from Popular Mechanics in August 1939 talked about housing, which by today's standards at the level of technology cannot even compete with a typical "smart home".

Fantastic illustrations created by people like Klaus Burgle, Kurt Roschl and dozens of other artists remain unrealized fiction to this day. Perhaps the reason is that too little time has passed. The shape of the future has already been drawn, and all that remains for us is to realize it, if possible in bright colors.

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Artists of all times have tried to imagine the future in their paintings and sculptures. Today we call this direction retrofuturism. We have collected works by contemporary artists who will become retrofuturists in a couple of decades.

Simon Stalenhag

Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag has been fascinated by the beauty of his native landscape since childhood. In his youth, he painted landscapes in the spirit of his favorite compatriot artists. But when the artist grew up, robots, hadron colliders and giant flying tractors invaded the rural idyll of his paintings. However, people in this alternative world live everyday lives and seem to be completely unsurprised by the curiosities surrounding them.

“In the 1950s, the government launched a huge nuclear accelerator and research laboratory just a few kilometers from Stockholm. The laboratory is located underground and produces a large number of experimental technologies. Up until the 1970s, everything goes well, but then the system begins to collapse. Bad things start to happen. The images on my website show the life of the people of that world, and how it was affected by the fiasco of a gigantic scientific project. No one knows how it will all end, ”says Simon about what is happening in the world he invented.

Greg Brotherton

Sculptor Greg Brotherton depicts a world of oppression and slavery in his mechanical works. His sculptures depict faceless, small people chained to their workplace and performing monotonous, meaningless actions. In his youth, Greg read the works of Orwell and Kafka, which corresponded to his then mood. Until now, the artist looks at the world around him through the eyes of a gloomy teenager filled with fear of the future.

Leo Egiarte

Los Angeles-based artist Leo Eguiarte transforms old circuit boards into pessimistic illustrations of the future. His works, made in acid colors, deal with the problem of fixing a person on material values. The artist's favorite colors - purple, turquoise and emerald - are present in all of Egiarte's paintings, forming an image of a synthetic future in combination with geometric shapes. The Synthetic Dream series addresses the problem of power usurped by a minority and invites the viewer to think about how our decisions and the way we interact with reality can change civilization.

Yang Yongliang

Chinese artist Yang Yongliang uses digital collages to demonstrate the destructive impact of industrialization on nature. Such an inhospitable and gray world will be if humanity continues to recklessly rebuild the environment and litter the planet with the waste of its activities.