Photo Exhibitions 2026: Martin Parr, Kyotographie and the Must-See Retrospectives

The visual testament of a giant

From 30 January to 24 May 2026, the Jeu de Paume dedicates a major exhibition to Martin Parr (1952–2025). Conceived with the British photographer before his passing on 6 December 2025, Global Warning brings together some 180 works produced from the 1970s to 2024. Curated by Quentin Bajac, the institution’s director, it re-reads fifty years of documentary photography through the lens of the upheavals of our era. According to Expo Paris, this retrospective constitutes « both a summation of an exceptional career and a visual testament addressed to a humanity blind to its own excesses ».

Through his many series — begun in the British Isles and Ireland, then extended to all five continents from the 1990s — recurring themes emerge: the turpitudes of mass tourism, the dominance of the car, technological dependency, consumerist frenzy, and our ambivalent relationship with the living world. According to British Council France, the exhibition is organised into five thematic sections that illustrate the acuity of his satirical and deeply humane gaze.

Exhibition highlights

• 180 works spanning 5 decades of career
• Unseen series and personal archives never exhibited in France
• Simultaneous exhibition of Jo Ractliffe at the same venue
• Catalogue co-published with Phaidon, available in bookshops

The rock star of photography takes over the Grand Palais

From 18 March to 21 June 2026, the Grand Palais hosts for the first time in France a major retrospective of Nan Goldin, a key figure in contemporary photography. Intimate, political and deeply emotional, her work explores more than forty years of lives, friendships and struggles. According to the Grand Palais, this is « the first retrospective in France devoted to her videos and slideshows, which the artist describes as films composed of photographs ».

After Stockholm, Amsterdam, Berlin and Milan, the exhibition arrives in Paris across two complementary venues. At the Grand Palais, six major works spanning fifty years of creation are presented in pavilions designed by architect Hala Wardé. Among them, the iconic series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, The Other Side and Sisters, Saints, Sibyls. This last installation also takes over the Chapelle Saint-Louis-de-la-Salpêtrière — with free admission — with a striking spiritual dimension.

Not to be missed

• The Ballad of Sexual Dependency — a 700-image slideshow lasting 45 minutes
• Sisters, Saints, Sibyls at the Chapelle de la Salpêtrière (free entry)
• Pavilion scenography — each space designed for a single work
• First complete Parisian retrospective of Goldin in 20 years

Photographic art takes over the millennial city

In its 14th edition, KYOTOGRAPHIE runs from 18 April to 17 May 2026 under the theme EDGE — « border, boundary, threshold ». According to PhMuseum, 13 photographers and artists from 8 countries explore together « experimental image-making, social and historical peripheries, and urban and technological thresholds ». A particularly resonant theme in the world of 2026.

The festival transforms Kyoto into a living gallery: traditional townhouses (machiya), imperial palaces, museums and temples metamorphose into exhibition spaces designed with local architects and craftspeople. Among the highlights of this edition: a retrospective of Daido Moriyama, organised with the Instituto Moreira Salles and the Daido Moriyama Photo Foundation, presented at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art; a tribute to Palestinian photographer Fatma Hassona; and the latest work by Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu created during her residency in Kyoto.

2026 programme highlights

• Daido Moriyama — retrospective at the KYOCERA Museum of Art
• Anton Corbijn — David Bowie, Tom Waits and his icons in black and white
• Thandiwe Muriu — Kyoto residency, previously unseen work
• KG+ satellite festival (free access) for emerging artists

The largest French retrospective in twenty years

From 10 April to 2 August 2026, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris presents the most significant retrospective devoted to Lee Miller in France in twenty years. Organised at the initiative of Tate Britain and in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition brings together nearly 250 vintage and modern prints, including several never shown before. According to MAM Paris, six sections trace the full trajectory of this photographer long relegated to the role of muse.

An essential figure of the international avant-garde, Lee Miller (1907–1977) was by turns a model, Surrealist artist, portraitist, fashion photographer and war correspondent accredited by the US Army. Her photographs of the liberated camps at Buchenwald and Dachau remain among the most powerful images of the Second World War. Today recognised as one of the great photographers of the 20th century, this retrospective finally restores her rightful place in history.

A journey through six chapters

• Her beginnings in New York: modelling for Vogue and fashion portraits
• Surrealist Paris: collaboration with Man Ray and the avant-gardes
• Egypt and the Middle East: the formative journey of the 1930s
• War correspondent: the liberation witnessed from the inside

Thirty years of intimate America in the heart of the Marais

Until 24 May 2026, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie presents the first Parisian retrospective devoted to Dutch photographer Dana Lixenberg. Across two floors, more than thirty years of work in the United States unfold a plural portrait of contemporary America. According to Expo Paris, the journey opens with colour portraits made between 1993 and 2003 for American magazines: Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Kate Moss, Jay-Z, Allen Ginsberg and Leonard Cohen in images that have become iconic.

But Dana Lixenberg is also — and above all — known for her fieldwork in invisible communities. Two decades of immersion in Compton (Los Angeles) gave rise to an extraordinary documentary body of work. « Photography is like a slow dance, » she says — a method built on listening, patience and trust built up quietly over time. In France, her name remains largely unknown to the general public, making her one of the most precious discoveries of the season.

Free, immersive and unrivalled

Founded in 2004, the Festival Photo La Gacilly has become the largest open-air photography festival in Europe, welcoming more than 300,000 visitors each season. For four months, the Breton village is transformed into an open-air gallery. According to the official website, the streets, lanes and gardens become exhibition spaces « fully accessible, at the heart of a living, ever-moving space ». And all of this, entirely free of charge.

Since its founding, the festival has championed environmental and social issues. Each edition develops a dual theme combining a focus on contemporary creation — often a country or continent — with a societal issue. Everything is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing for a particularly poetic nocturnal stroll.

The world capital of photography throughout the summer

For its 57th edition, the Rencontres d’Arles runs from 6 July to 4 October 2026. The city of Arles is transformed into the world capital of photography for a whole summer. According to JDS.fr, around forty exhibitions are presented in unforgettable heritage venues — chapels, 12th-century cloisters, 19th-century industrial buildings — as well as contemporary and unexpected settings.

The Rencontres paid tribute to Martin Parr, who passed away in December 2025: « His story is closely linked to the Rencontres d’Arles, where his work had a profound impact on several generations of visitors and photographers. » Among the already-announced projects, artist Lara Tabet and curator Yasmine Chemali will present Le corps vitré, selected for the Rencontres 2026 and then Paris Photo in November.

The great unknown of the European photography scene

From 5 June to 22 September 2026, the 9th Hamburg Triennial of Photography presents eleven exhibitions across eight major institutions in the city, around the concept Alliance, Infinity, Love – in the Face of the Other. Under the artistic direction of Mark Sealy, a London-based curator who has dedicated his career to decolonising the Western gaze, the Triennial invites exploration of the creative and social potential of alliance, infinity and love in the face of otherness. According to L’Œil de la Photographie, the event is the major photography gathering of the German-speaking world.

The great strength of the Triennial lies in its collaborative approach: Hamburg’s leading photography and art institutions — led by the Deichtorhallen — join forces to create a festival with reach far beyond the city’s borders. Hamburg often remains overshadowed by Berlin on cultural circuits, which makes it a less crowded and more accessible destination.