Paris 1900

I just finished reading The Triumph of Art Nouveau: Paris Exhibition 1900 by Philippe Jullian, published in 1974, which is only in small part about art nouveau and is really a spectacular panorama of the entire scope of the exhibition and the dizzying array of styles and ideologies on display. The book includes scores of photographs of the famous monuments constructed for the exhibition (the Grand and Petit Palais) as well as many of the more obscure pavillions (Bosnia-Herzogovina, Siberia, the Palais des Mirages . . .). Amongst the latter was the Palais des Extases designed by a Swiss architect named Traschel. Jullian doesn't give any further information about this Palais; it does look remarkably like Takashi Murakami's "Mr. Pointy."

Palais des Extases:

Mr. Pointy: