In 2021, when the container ship Ever Given clogged up the Suez Canal, a 120-mile waterway in Egypt, trade was temporarily paralyzed. Suddenly the world was fixed on the problems of international trade in a way it had not been since 1869, when the Canal first opened. Featuring photographs by Louis Robert Cuvier, this exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay reminds us of the importance of the Suez Canal and what an incredible feat it was to build. The project began in 1859, and from 1866 to 1869, Cuvier, a French foreman, photographed progress on the canal. Through these images, we see how the project transitioned from an entirely man-made effort to one of the earliest examples of infrastructure built with steam machinery. Also on display is a copy of Cuvier’s Album de l’Isthme de Suez (Album of the Isthmus of Suez), from 1867. —Alice Browne