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Robert Doisneau, an exhibition dedicated to the essence of Paris


This is a truly evocative exhibition, which shows the essence of Paris and which everyone will be able to see until September 4th in the fantastic Ara Pacis Museum.

A truly impressive exhibition

130 photographs are exhibited at the suggestive Ara Pacis Museum at the moment, which everyone will be able to see until September 4th. They are the protagonists of “Robert Doisneau”, an evocative exhibition that aims to illustrate Parisian every-day life, which also wants to pay homage to the French photographer Robert Doisneau.

This exhibition is a series of shots that were taken in Paris at the turn of the 40s and 60s. They are black and white photographs, depicting normal scenes of everyday life. There are therefore no models posing, simply because each image was taken in a natural way.

Precisely for this reason, it is particularly suggestive. Each shot contains the essence of the characters and consequently also their feelings and their emotions.

The shots have been sorted into sections, each of which represents a different type of person. However, the characters of the noble families are not present. The photographer’s goal was to represent the Parisian people of the 40s, 50s and 60s, showing all their strengths and weaknesses.

The essence of Paris

All the shots come from the Atelier Robert Doisneau in Montrouge, which houses over 400,000 photographs.

These are images that the photographer shot while wandering the streets of Paris, accompanied by his camera and the desire to depict the lives and essence of ordinary people.

He believed that he had learned the greatest lessons ever from the French suburbs, which is why he was particularly interested in highlighting them.

He had thus succeeded in giving a fresco of Paris, which showed every side of the city; the romantic one, that of the working class, also illustrating the life of the children of the city.

An incredible structure

The temporary home of this evocative exhibition is the Ara Pacis Museum, a structure located in the heart of the capital, and which was the first to be built immediately after the fall of fascism.

It was born thanks to a Richard Meier project, who in the 1950s gave life to some of the most important museums and churches of the century, including the enchanting sail-shaped church in the Tor Tre Teste district.

Today, the museum not only hosts incredible exhibitions, but also preserves one of the greatest examples of classical art, the Ara Pacis. It is an altar that was built in 13 BC to celebrate the return of Augustus from the countryside in Spain and Gaul, which was then rebuilt to celebrate the biennial of the emperor’s birth. It is a truly amazing structure.