Catalogue d'exposition Louvre Photo

Written in French

Forthcoming 30 October 2026

The Louvre Celebrates the Bicentenary of Photography

The Louvre is one of the most photographed museums in the world. This book traces the complex relationship between the museum and the photographic medium over nearly two hundred years. How have photographers approached the Louvre? What do they reveal of the museum's secret life? What role has photography played in the fame of certain masterpieces? Which landmark events has it chosen to show? How has it contributed to the museum's influence and reputation?

The Louvre, with its architecture, galleries, staff and visitors, is by turns model, subject, source of inspiration, muse and object of subversion. Seen through the eyes of photographers, both famous and anonymous, it is unquestionably the main character of this book.

Contributors:
Françoise Mardrus, Director of Museum Studies and Research Support, Musée du Louvre.
Éléonore Challine, Senior Lecturer in the History of Photography, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Photographica.
Marie-Ève Bouillon, photography historian, Curator of Heritage (conservatrice du patrimoine), and head of the photographic collections at the Archives nationales.
Dominique de Font-Réaulx, exhibition curator, Musée du Louvre.
Quentin Bajac, exhibition curator, Director of the Jeu de Paume.

248 pages
French