PhotoSaintGermain 2026: Opening Day on the Rive gauche (Left Bank)

PhotoSaintGermain, the annual photography festival of the Rive gauche (Left Bank), opened its 15th edition on 5 November 2026 and runs until 28 November. Nearly forty venues take part — galleries, museums, cultural centres, schools and bookshops, mostly in the 6th and 7th arrondissements — and this year the festival carries the French Ministry of Culture’s label for the Bicentenary of Photography. Four of the exhibitions that opened on the first day are described below.

Tina Barney, “Beginnings” — Zander Galerie

At 6 rue Jacob, Zander Galerie presents Beginnings, six early black-and-white photographs by the American photographer Tina Barney (born 1945). They date from the late 1970s, when she photographed summers in Rhode Island with a 35 mm camera, and she rediscovered them while going through her archives during the pandemic. Faces often stay out of the frame: the pictures look instead at gesture, posture, clothing, hair, glass and atmospheric effects, and they already point to the codes of social class and family life that run through her later colour work. The gallery quotes her comparing them to the loose sketches a painter makes before a larger composition. The opening took place on Thursday 5 November, 6–9 pm; the exhibition continues until 9 January 2027.

Twenty photographers for forty years — Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès

Visitors and framed black-and-white and sepia prints in the gallery on the opening evening, with colour drawings on the left wall — Opening evening at Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, 5 November 2026. Photo: Kasra Aliha

Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès, on rue de Seine (the festival lists nos. 14 and 29), celebrates its 40th anniversary with 20 photographes fêtent les 40 ans de la galerie, de Mario Giacomelli à Antoine Schneck: twenty photographers who have marked its history, shown as part of PhotoSaintGermain and the bicentenary of photography. The gallery was founded in 1986 by Michèle Aittouarès; her daughter Odile joined in 2000 and created a department devoted to photography. The works range from the 1950s to today, from the graphic, painterly approach of Giacomelli to the humanist and committed photography of Jean Dieuzaide and Letizia Battaglia; the gallery’s page also names John Craven, Malick Sidibé, Antoine Schneck and Franco Zecchin. The opening took place on Thursday 5 November; the show continues until 28 November, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am–1 pm and 2.30–7 pm.

Visitors in the gallery with framed black-and-white prints and an old Surrealism exhibition poster on the right wall — Framed prints and an old Surrealism exhibition poster in the gallery. Photo: Kasra Aliha

A white egg nested in coiled red thread under a glass dome, on a dark wooden plinth — An egg nested in red thread under a glass dome, shown in the gallery. Photo: Kasra Aliha

“C’est un regard de l’eau” — Galerie du Crous de Paris

Visitors at the Galerie du Crous de Paris on 5 November 2026, in front of black-and-white wave images and landscape photographs — Opening day at the Galerie du Crous de Paris, 5 November 2026. Photo: Kasra Aliha

The gallery of the Crous de Paris, at 11 rue des Beaux-Arts, brings together three research projects supported by the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) through its documentary photography grant. The title echoes Gaston Bachelard’s L’Eau et les rêves (1942), and water runs through all three. The curators are Pascal Beausse, head of the Cnap’s photography collection, and Aurélia Marcadier, the festival’s director.

Wall text of the exhibition C’est un regard de l’eau at the Galerie du Crous de Paris, signed by curators Pascal Beausse and Aurélia Marcadier — The wall text of “C’est un regard de l’eau”, signed by the curators Pascal Beausse (Cnap) and Aurélia Marcadier. Photo: Kasra Aliha

Guillaume Bihan and Daria Svertilova follow the Danube up to Ukraine to portray young people suspended between childhood and adulthood, whose future remains uncertain. Daphné Nan Le Sergent looks at Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, territories at the heart of the global semiconductor industry, where data has become a resource comparable to water; she builds visual, sonic and poetic analogies around new forms of circulation, power and dependence. Clément Chapillon turns to the Dead Sea, where Palestinians and Israelis come to float for a while, free of their own weight, while the shoreline withdraws and records the sea’s slow disappearance.

Two rows of colour photographs of young people near rivers, with a night view of an industrial plant at the right — Colour photographs of young people near rivers, with a night view of an industrial plant at the right. Photo: Kasra Aliha

Upper room of the Galerie du Crous de Paris with colour photographs of young people outdoors and a black wooden-railed staircase — The upper room of the Galerie du Crous de Paris. Photo: Kasra Aliha

The exhibition runs until 28 November, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am–1 pm and 2–7 pm.

Jindřich Štreit and FAMU — Centre tchèque de Paris

Rows of black-and-white photographs on dark-grey walls, with a large print of a couple kissing on an orange wooden panel — Black-and-white prints on dark-grey walls at the Centre tchèque de Paris. Photo: Kasra Aliha

At the Centre tchèque de Paris, 18 rue Bonaparte, two exhibitions share the festival. Humanity is devoted to Jindřich Štreit, the Czech photographer who turns 80 this year: previously unpublished gelatin silver prints selected from his archives, showing people in marginalised and changing regions of Bohemia and of France in the 1990s. According to the Czech press, about seventy of the pictures were made in Saint-Quentin, in northern France, during commissioned stays in 1992–1994, alongside selections from other series; the organisers describe it as his first major retrospective in Paris. It is curated by Štěpánka Stein and Emmanuelle de l’Écotais, founder of the Photo Days festival.

Visitors in the exhibition hall of the Centre tchèque de Paris, with framed black-and-white prints and an orange display case — The opening crowd in the exhibition hall of the Centre tchèque de Paris. Photo: Kasra Aliha

The second show, Y a pas photo !, curated by Noemi Purkrábková, marks the photography teaching of FAMU, the Prague film academy founded in 1946. It stages a dialogue between generations and asks how the relationship between photography and reality is changing, and how images shape our perception of the contemporary world. According to the Centre’s own website, both exhibitions run from 5 November 2026 (opening that day at 6 pm) to 16 January 2027; the festival listing gives Thursday to Saturday, 1–7 pm, as the opening hours.

A giant film strip printed with photographs spiralling down a stairwell, with the film stock name Ilford HP5 Plus along its edge — A film-strip installation runs down the stairwell, its edge printed with the film stock name Ilford HP5 Plus. Photo: Kasra Aliha

Wide view of the exhibition hall during the opening, with visitors, dark-grey walls and a wooden floor — A wider view of the exhibition hall during the opening. Photo: Kasra Aliha

Practical information

Zander Galerie — 6 rue Jacob, Paris 6e; until 9 January 2027.
Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès — 14 and 29 rue de Seine, Paris 6e; until 28 November, Tuesday–Saturday.
Galerie du Crous de Paris — 11 rue des Beaux-Arts, Paris 6e; until 28 November, Tuesday–Saturday.
Centre tchèque de Paris — 18 rue Bonaparte, Paris 6e; until 16 January 2027, Thursday–Saturday.
PhotoSaintGermain — 5–28 November 2026; free route of exhibitions across Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Sources: PhotoSaintGermain 2026 programme; Zander Galerie, Beginnings; Expats.cz on Jindřich Štreit; Galerie Berthet-Aittouarès on the festival programme; the Centre tchèque de Paris website; wall texts photographed on site.

Text and photographs: Kasra Aliha