In the upper Marais, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation devotes its galleries to photography. Opened in 2003 at the initiative of Henri Cartier-Bresson, his wife Martine Franck and their daughter Mélanie, it holds the couple’s prints and archives. There is no permanent display: each season two exhibitions share the space, for example Richard Avedon in 2025 or Cartier-Bresson’s “Les Européens” in early 2026, alongside a contemporary photographer. Since autumn 2018 the foundation has occupied a former garage at 79 rue des Archives, remodelled by the Novo architecture practice, a few minutes from the Marché des Enfants-Rouges.
Highlights
79 rue des Archives
By moving from Montparnasse to the Marais, the foundation more than doubled its exhibition space, now at street level. Take a moment to look at the building’s paved courtyard, with its old façades and carriage entrance, typical of the neighbourhood.
Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Leica
The photographer bought his first Leica in Paris in the early 1930s: this light camera let him capture the street at close range. The foundation preserves this legacy together with the work of Martine Franck, but does not display these items permanently; check the programme to see which prints are on show.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Check the programme before you come: the foundation closes while exhibitions are being changed. Full price €10, reduced €6 (65 and over, jobseekers, up to and including age 25), free up to and including age 18 (prices checked in September 2026). On Wednesdays, an 18-25 ticket bought on site entitles you to a second free 18-25 ticket for the same day. The bookshop at the entrance is free to enter.
How to get there
Metro Arts et Métiers, lines 3 and 11; Temple, line 3; Filles du Calvaire, line 8. Buses 29 and 75, Archives–Haudriettes stop; bus 96, Bretagne stop. Address: 79 rue des Archives, 75003 Paris.
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