Erected in Paris in the last decade of the 19th century for the Paris Exposition of 1900, the Paleontology, comparative Anatomy and Anthropology Gallery presented itself as an educational and promotional demonstrative object. The stakes were high, as this construction was meant to promote the institution itself as well as scientific, artistic and technical advancements in France. The project was therefore entrusted to Ferdinand Dutert, an architect at the height of international renown who designed the Palais des Machines, Eiffel Tower’s counterpart. Thirty-one artists were asked to contribute to the building. A substantial part of this essay is thus devoted to the study of its decor. The gallery’s facade being considered as a metonymy of the Salons at the turn of the 1890s, its analysis allows us to understand the artistic practices at the Natural History Museum. Practices which, at the end of the century, were artificially linked to the supposedly scientific method of Barye. Lastly, this symbolic building was meant to be the new face of the Museum, an institution both highly historical and at the forefront of modernity, dedicated to the history of science as well as to new scientific developments and their publicizing. In search of an identity, the new museum was erected in a context of national and global rivalry, while the concept of “Museum of the future” was taking shape in the occidental world. In this essay, we apprehend the Paleontology Gallery as the French interpretation of this concept.