Musée Maillol hosts a large retrospective revisiting the work of French humanist photographer Robert Doisneau (1912-1999). The exhibition includes Doisneau’s iconic images—such as “Le Baiser de l’Hotel de Ville” —and hundreds of rarely exhibited photos (selected from his personal archive of over 450,000 pictures) curated by a team including his two daughters, Francine Deroudille and Annette Doisneau (to October 12, 2025).
Doisneau’s pictures are much loved for how they capture the magic of daily life with amusing juxtapositions and gentle social ironies. Along with other French photographers, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Edouard Boubat, Doisneau influenced a generation of documentary “street” photographers around the world.
The theme based exhibition provides a view of Doisneau’s entire career, starting at age 22 with his first big photo job (1934-1939) documenting life at the Renault Car Company. It includes a few surprises such as photos from Doisneau’s “Vogue” fashion years (1949-1952), and a series of uncharacteristically “arty” darkroom multiple exposure experiments.
“Instants Donnés” translates to English as “given moment in time.” Doisneau had a knack for capturing the momentary charm hidden in any given moment… whether on the street or in a smokey Paris café. Asked about his work in an interview with the “Sunday Times,” Doisneau replied “I don’t photograph life as it is, but as I would like it to be…”
“Robert Doisneau, Instants Données,” Musée Maillol, to October 12, 2025, 61, rue de Grenelle, Paris, 7e.