Autocoureur tijdens de Course du Mille, een race voor automobielen in Nice Possibly 1899

This photograph by Delizy captures a moment during the Course du Mille, an early automobile race in Nice. It's impossible to ignore the exuberance of the belle epoque, where technological advancement was celebrated, and speed became a new obsession. This image also speaks to the rise of a leisure class, for whom such races were both entertainment and a display of wealth. But it also evokes questions of access and exclusion. Who could afford these new machines, and who was relegated to the sidelines, merely watching? This photograph encapsulates a world in transition, caught between the old and the new, the privileged and the rest. While celebrating progress, it invites us to reflect on the social and economic disparities that often accompany innovation.