The transformation of society that began with the invention of the steam engine has been aptly called the industrial revolution. The colossal impact of technology on the formerly rural, agrarian culture of the western world can scarcely be imagined today. For some, the increasingly widespread use of the machine elicited messianic hope.

This ecstatic view of technology is graphically revealed in the work of a number of modern artists. One of the prime examples of this view of technology and the machine as savior for the the human race is Robert Delaunay's "Homage to Blériot," painted in 1914.

In the late 1800's, the machine was often heralded as the quintessential symbol of man's continued progress. Obedient and strong, the machine was a slave that necessitated little moral apprehension. The machine was an expression not only of man's rational nature, but also of his unlimited creative potential. In line with this thinking, Robert Delaunay's "Homage to Blériot" is virtually a hymn of praise to the genius and confidence of modern man in his machines.

The painting is named after Louis Blériot, a French aviator who was the first to fly the English Channel. Blériot was Delaunay's prototype of the modern man. Man was now creating his own world through the use of benevolent and powerful machines. Likewise, the conventions of painting and the arts would have to give way to a new order.