ornamentedbeing:

Via the Musee d’Orsay website: On 22 October 1895, there was a particularly spectacular railway accident at the Gare de l’Ouest, later re-named the Gare Montparnasse. The 26 October issue of L’Illustration reported the event as follows: “The No.56 train arriving from Grandville hurtled into the station at a speed of 40 to 60 kilometres an hour, and, unable to stop, ploughed through the buffers at the end of the platform. Its engine crashed through the façade of the station building, […] and fell down on to the Place de Rennes. […] The only fatality was a newspaper vendor on the square, who was killed by a piece of falling masonry”.

For several days, gaping onlookers crowded around the locomotive, stranded in the middle of Paris. Among them were many photographers, both professional and amateur. Here they found an opportunity to use their cameras to prove that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. The Musée d’Orsay print, which has no professional stamp on the back, is undoubtedly the work of one of these amateurs.

The sensational nature of the accident ensured a wide distribution for this image, in many versions. Even today, a postcard of the Railway accident at the Gare de l’Ouest is an absolute must for tourists in Paris.

L. Mercier (in Paris um 1895 tätig)
Accident at the Gare de l’Ouest, 22 October 1895
1895
Aristotype
H. 22.6; W. 17.1 cm
© RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

Heyy! this made an appearance in Hugo :D

(via beansie009)

  1. stargirlxo reblogged this from yensid-wingingtheworld
  2. yensid-wingingtheworld reblogged this from anoukvdm
  3. ilostmydoctor reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  4. anoukvdm reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  5. billy-bill reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  6. kendrapendragon reblogged this from cpnblowfish and added:
    In Germany, we have a traffic sign (yes, it’s real). Maybe France needs something similar?
  7. deepslow reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  8. mesheme reblogged this from absenzio
  9. absenzio reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  10. atlantean-potato reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  11. fandomswhore221b reblogged this from cpnblowfish
  12. cpnblowfish reblogged this from ornamentedbeing and added:
    L. Mercier Accident à la Gare de l’Ouest, Paris. 22 Octobre 1895.
  13. chloes-body reblogged this from stephhr
  14. salvomofo reblogged this from surrealchemy
  15. surrealchemy reblogged this from my-ear-trumpet
  16. americandreamsdrowningingin reblogged this from stephhr
  17. twostarstotheright reblogged this from indoubidably
  18. albertobarrera reblogged this from ornamentedbeing
  19. clematispassiflora reblogged this from poppies-for-ophelia
  20. poppies-for-ophelia reblogged this from creativityisblissss
  21. mindlessdreaming-wishfulthinking reblogged this from creativityisblissss
  22. creativityisblissss reblogged this from ornamentedbeing
  23. eleanorpennyweather reblogged this from yonsolitaryhighlandlass
  24. yonsolitaryhighlandlass reblogged this from cwnerd12
  25. thunderhorsevintage reblogged this from ornamentedbeing
  26. ohaieris reblogged this from coeurdelhistoire and added:
    Via the Musee d’Orsay website: On 22 October 1895, there was a particularly spectacular railway accident at the Gare de...

Post Info

Share