30 Retrofuturism Artworks That Dared to Imagine the Future We Live In Today

John Summers • Contributor

Aug 1, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

Watching Fantastic Four sparked something in me. That chrome-plated, jet-powered, neon-lit something I hadn't felt since my last deep dive into retrofuturism. There's just something endlessly fascinating about how people in the past imagined our future. It's a specific flavor of optimism - all flying cars, personal robot assistants, and outfits with way too much silver lamé. But what's really wild is how this future-forward dreaming mostly came out of one time period: the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. You don't see medieval monks sketching hoverboards or ancient Greeks imagining moon colonies.

Why? Because technology exploded in the 20th century. Suddenly, it felt like anything was possible. That's where retrofuturism lives - at the intersection of imagination and optimism, filtered through the lens of old-school design. And I'm obsessed.

These 30 glorious illustrations imagined the world of tomorrow… usually "in the year 2000," which was apparently the most futurey future anyone could imagine. Spoiler alert: we don't have underwater cities or food pills yet, but we do have nostalgia, and that's almost as good.

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01
A 1935 concept showing a centrifugal force machine designed to reverse aging.

via Rare Historical Photos
02
Air travel over Paris in the year 2000, as imagined in 1882 by artist Albert Robida.

via Rare Historical Photos
03
A look at what shopping in the future might look like, from 1965.

via Rare Historical Photos
04
An American mother and daughter return home from shopping in a futuristic spaceship, circa 1950s.

via Rare Historical Photos
05
A late 1950s illustration of a self-driving car.

via Rare Historical Photos
06
A sleek futuristic limousine with butterfly doors.

via Rare Historical Photos
07
A network of underground tube trains beneath a city, by artist Klaus Bürgle, 1969.

via Rare Historical Photos
08
A painting from around 1950 showing how people imagined the future would look.

via Rare Historical Photos
09
A vision of what beach vacations might be like in the future.

via Rare Historical Photos
10
The “House of Tomorrow” as featured in Mechanix Illustrated, circa 1950.

via Rare Historical Photos
11
Mail delivery by rocket, illustrated by Frank Tinsley in 1957.

via Rare Historical Photos
12
An inflatable lunar base concept by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, circa 1970s.

via Rare Historical Photos
13
The “Hoppicopter,” a one-person vehicle for low-cost air travel, by Frank Tinsley, 1950.

via Rare Historical Photos
14
A futuristic landscape of skyscrapers with winding roads and moving sidewalks.

via Rare Historical Photos
15
Elevated trains cross the skies among towering skyscrapers.

via Rare Historical Photos
16
Astronauts explore the surface of another planet in this 1954 artwork by Fred Freeman.

via Rare Historical Photos
17
Space food concepts from George Pal’s sci-fi film Conquest of Space (1956).

via Rare Historical Photos
18
An amphibious, futuristic RV vehicle from 1947.

via Rare Historical Photos
19
A look inside a glass house of the future.

via Rare Historical Photos
20
The “half-mile-high” pleasure tower, with a restaurant and 500-car garage, envisioned in 1933.

via Rare Historical Photos
21
“Voice bombs,” balloon-suspended tape recorders dropping propaganda messages, by Frank Tinsley, 1951.

via Rare Historical Photos
22
Women model futuristic fashion for the year 2000 during Engineering Week, circa 1965.

via Rare Historical Photos
23
An illustration from World of Tomorrow — School, Work and Play (1981), showing future technology in everyday life.

via Rare Historical Photos
24
A scene from the 2001 film CQ, which features a retro 1960s sci-fi subplot.

via Rare Historical Photos
25
NASA’s vision of a space colony that would look like Earth, complete with a giant central engine.

via Rare Historical Photos
26
These space cities were designed to include houses, greenery, roads, and rivers like cities on Earth.

via Rare Historical Photos
27
A 1969 concept of a nuclear-proof city beneath Manhattan.

via Rare Historical Photos
28
An early 1950s concept for a television newspaper.

via Rare Historical Photos
29
A futuristic city concept from the 1970s.

via Rare Historical Photos
30
An indoor futuristic home design from the 1960s.

via Rare Historical Photos

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30 Retrofuturism Artworks That Dared to Imagine the Future We Live In Today

A 1935 concept showing a centrifugal force machine designed to reverse aging.

Air travel over Paris in the year 2000, as imagined in 1882 by artist Albert Robida.

A look at what shopping in the future might look like, from 1965.

An American mother and daughter return home from shopping in a futuristic spaceship, circa 1950s.

A late 1950s illustration of a self-driving car.

A sleek futuristic limousine with butterfly doors.

A network of underground tube trains beneath a city, by artist Klaus Bürgle, 1969.

A painting from around 1950 showing how people imagined the future would look.

A vision of what beach vacations might be like in the future.

The “House of Tomorrow” as featured in Mechanix Illustrated, circa 1950.

Mail delivery by rocket, illustrated by Frank Tinsley in 1957.

An inflatable lunar base concept by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, circa 1970s.

The “Hoppicopter,” a one-person vehicle for low-cost air travel, by Frank Tinsley, 1950.

A futuristic landscape of skyscrapers with winding roads and moving sidewalks.

Elevated trains cross the skies among towering skyscrapers.

Astronauts explore the surface of another planet in this 1954 artwork by Fred Freeman.

Space food concepts from George Pal’s sci-fi film Conquest of Space (1956).

An amphibious, futuristic RV vehicle from 1947.

A look inside a glass house of the future.

The “half-mile-high” pleasure tower, with a restaurant and 500-car garage, envisioned in 1933.

“Voice bombs,” balloon-suspended tape recorders dropping propaganda messages, by Frank Tinsley, 1951.

Women model futuristic fashion for the year 2000 during Engineering Week, circa 1965.

An illustration from World of Tomorrow — School, Work and Play (1981), showing future technology in everyday life.

A scene from the 2001 film CQ, which features a retro 1960s sci-fi subplot.

NASA’s vision of a space colony that would look like Earth, complete with a giant central engine.

These space cities were designed to include houses, greenery, roads, and rivers like cities on Earth.

A 1969 concept of a nuclear-proof city beneath Manhattan.

An early 1950s concept for a television newspaper.

A futuristic city concept from the 1970s.

An indoor futuristic home design from the 1960s.

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