I wonder what thoughts they had those fin de siecle ladies. I am reading Proust and he reveals some of the underlying layers. But there's probably a certain naivite in him when it comes to women... When I was younger I was sometimes generally surprised about the inconsistencies of the nice lady image and the actual thoughts some of them shared with me in confidence :)
But in this case the 1889 world exhibition is mainly a background setting. The last house is a modified version of the pavilion of the pastel artists association. Most of this is a gross satire about men's mid-life crisis, and a certain sefl-absorbed and whiny type of person. I was a bit feed up with helpless men at the time, so this is not my most friendly or empathic work...
Well, I think it's well done and there surely could be some lovely satire on many of today's "variety" of men haha.
Thank you for sharing this image as well, breath-taking building.