Portrait of a City takes us through a cosmopolitan city where, as Goethe put it, “every walk over a bridge or a square is a reminder of a great past, and where a piece of history has unfolded on every street corner.” The history of Paris is retold through important photographs, from Daguerre’s early incunabula to recent images – an exuberant inventory of change, a tremendous panorama of more than 600 pages and 500 photographs. This book unites past and present, the monumental and the everyday, architecture and fashion. Images by world-famous photographers such as Daguerre, Marville, Atget, Lartigue, Brassaï, Kertész, Ronis, Doisneau, and Cartier-Bresson , as well as pictures by unknown artists, capture the special “Parisian atmosphere,” that special poetry that the city and its inhabitants still convey today and that has inspired countless writers and artists over the centuries.

Paris, Portrait of a City is a sparkling mosaic of images, a massive photographic study full of touching snapshots—one could also call this volume the unofficial family album of the Parisians. This vibrant and affectionate exhibition is dedicated to them and all those who have been enchanted by the city.