The Musée du Louvre opens Louvre Photo on Wednesday 4 November 2026, an exhibition of more than 300 photographs that, according to the museum, takes the Louvre itself as model, subject, source of inspiration and object of reinvention. The show, in the Mezzanine Napoléon, runs until 3 May 2027.
The exhibition is labelled by France’s Ministry of Culture as part of the official programme of the Bicentenary of Photography, which runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 September 2027, according to the museum’s exhibition page. It is curated by Dominique de Font-Réaulx, senior curator and advisor to the Louvre’s President-Director, and Quentin Bajac, director of the Jeu de Paume.
From the first photographs to the present
Per the Louvre’s press kit, the selection runs from Louis-Jacques Daguerre’s first shot in 1839 to images of the present day. Some were commissioned by the museum, others made whenever inspiration struck; they show artworks, galleries, visitors both famous and anonymous, museum staff, and hidden or restricted spaces. The press kit adds that several projects for a “Museum of Photography” at the Louvre emerged as early as the 1850s, but none was carried out.
The same document says the exhibition follows moments of the building’s history, among them the transformation of the palace into a museum under the Second Empire, the Paris Commune, the displacement and return of works during the two World Wars, and the Grand Louvre works of the 1980s.
Every photographic technique, in one place
Because its subject is confined to a single site, the press kit explains, the exhibition can present every photographic technique, from early daguerreotypes to digital images, alongside artist’s proofs, reproductions, projections, slide films and postcards. It is organised along a thematic axis, with a contemporary scenography the museum says is meant to stress dynamic angles and viewpoints. According to the exhibition page, the scenography is by Juan-Felipe Alarcon and the graphic design by Atelier Pierre/Pierre.
The page names works including Pierre Jahan’s Ballet du Louvre (1947), the Neurdein brothers’ Salle d’Auguste (before 1896), Auguste Léon’s Salle des États (1920–21, autochrome), Barbara Klemm’s Musée du Louvre (1987) and Robert Polidori’s Au Louvre (2003). The press visuals also include work by Candida Höfer (Grande Galerie, 2005), Édouard Baldus and René Dagron.
Loans, commissions and a photo contest
Besides the photographic holdings of the Louvre’s own departments, the museum says it is showing material from the Archives nationales, the Médiathèque du Patrimoine et de la Photographie, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Carnavalet and the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, as well as photographic commissions ordered by the Louvre since the early 2000s. In its description, Polidori is named as the most recent photographer invited to photograph the museum.
During the exhibition, visitors and partners are invited to send photographs of the Louvre via Instagram with the hashtag #LouvrePhoto; according to the museum, winning pictures will be displayed in the show.
Practical information
Venue: Musée du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, Paris 1st (Mezzanine Napoléon). Dates: 4 November 2026 to 3 May 2027. Tickets: the exhibition page states that admission is included in the museum ticket booking and that, depending on attendance, a wait may be needed to enter the exhibition; the City of Paris listing recommends booking. Average visit: 1 hour 30 minutes. Languages: French and English. The catalogue, Louvre Photo, was published on 30 October 2026. The museum’s programme lists a presentation by the two curators with a catalogue signing on 13 November at 12:30 and a curators’ tour on 19 November at 11:30. The exhibition is supported by Visa Infinite.
Sources
Exhibition page, Musée du Louvre · Press kit, Espace presse du musée du Louvre · Exhibition listing, City of Paris (paris.fr). Images: Louvre press visuals, credited in each caption.
This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by the Honargardi editorial team.