It’s almost impossible to conceive of São Paulo before its population hit the multi-million mark. Almost, we said. At the newly opened Casa da Imagem, the work of Swiss-Brazilian photographer Guilherme Gaensly lets visitors in on how things used to be, way back in the day, in the exhibition ‘Guilherme Gaensly, O fotógrafo cosmopolita’ (‘Guilherme Gaensly, The Cosmopolitan Photographer’).

Snapping the city between 1890 and 1920, from Brazil’s first years as a republic until after the First World War, the works featured in the exhibition depict a budding metropolis complete with freshly paved streets, recently constructed landmarks and brand-spanking-new electric trams.

Aside from having his own photography studio, Gaensly worked as a freelance photographer for the electricity and tram companies in São Paulo at the time, giving him a special insider point-of-view on the modernisations taking place in what would soon supplant Rio de Janeiro as Brazil’s largest city.