In 1900, an 18-year-old aspiring painter living in Barcelona received exciting news.

One of his paintings had been accepted as part of the collection that would be representing his home country at the Spanish Pavilion in the 1900 Exposition in Paris.

It must have been hugely gratifying and encouraging to the

young and struggling artist. We can infer that from the fact that when he received the good news,

Pablo Picasso went to a self-portrait he was working on at the time and scrawled alongside

the image of himself the words, I am the king.

I don't know about you, but I get a lot of comfort from the thought

that in all centuries and in all places,

18-year-old guys are just the same.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 25, I am the king.

In the second half of the 19th century, Paris hosted international expositions at regular intervals.

The first one in 1855 had been inspired by the London Great Exhibition of 1851.

The French weren't about to stand by and let the British have all the fun.

Paris hosted a second exposition in 1867, 12 years later, and a third one in 1878.

You'll notice these are at intervals of 11 or 12 years.

It didn't take a mathematical genius to figure out that 11 years after 1878 gets

you to 1889, which was the centennial of the French Revolution, which seemed like the perfect time

to host a fourth exposition, and so Paris did. I talked about that 1889 exhibition at some

length in episode six.

Continuing with this now established tradition of an exposition every 11 years,

Paris hosted yet another one in 1900. I mentioned it briefly in episode one, especially the

gold medal awarded Campbell's condensed soup.

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