Dominique Appia Centre Pompidou Poster - Le Temps des Gares 1978

Artist: Dominique Appia (Swiss, 1926–2017)
Title: Le Temps des Gares / Station Time (1978)
Exhibition: Le Temps des Gares (The Time of Train Stations)
Venue: Centre Georges Pompidou, Centre de Création Industrielle (CCI), Paris
Exhibition Dates: December 14, 1978 – April 9, 1979
Printer: Imp. Bedos, Paris
Year of Issue: 1978
Technique: Rare original 1st edition offset lithographic museum exhibition poster
Dimensions: 70x50 cm
Status: Excellent vintage condition, unbacked, pristine color definition
 
About the Poster:
This iconic, highly significant 1978 Dominique Appia Centre Pompidou Poster was published directly by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris to promote the historical structural exhibition Le Temps des Gares. A legendary milestone in modern graphic arts, this precise first-edition print won the prestigious Grand Prix de l'Affiche Française. The brilliant neo-surrealist illustration depicts a magnificent, dreamlike architectural fantasy based on the Tower of Babel, re-imagined as a sprawling, layered central railway terminal. Ancient steam locomotives and streamlined modern orange TGV trains emerge dynamically through multi-tiered stone archways and labyrinthine tracks under floating clouds. The upper margin boasts pristine French typography detailing the legendary 1978–1979 industrial design showcase.
 
About the Artist / Institution:
Dominique Appia was a celebrated twentieth-century Swiss master painter renowned for creating complex, structured spatial impossibilities and dreamlike scenarios that combined Renaissance proportions with classic Surrealism. His highly meticulous, thought-provoking illustrations earned him massive public adoration and historic monumental murals in Geneva. The publisher, The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, is one of modern civilization’s premier cultural monuments, housing Europe's most substantial museum collection of contemporary fine art. Their late 1970s exhibition posters printed by Bedos are highly prized by graphic art collectors worldwide.