From Oct. 4, 2025 to Jan. 6, 2026, the CAMBIO Cultural Center in Castelfiorentino will host the exhibition Robert Doisneau, the Poet Photographer, sponsored by the Cambiano Foundation and produced by Opera Laboratori, which oversaw its organization and staging. The exhibition brings together about one hundred large-format shots from theAtelier Robert Doisneau, also collected in a catalog edited by Patrick Ansellem together with Atelier Doisneau and published by Sillabe.
The selection makes it possible to embark on a journey into the heart of the twentieth century and into the Paris restored through Doisneau’s ironic and delicate gaze: on the one hand the luminous city of the grand boulevards, on the other the more everyday and popular city of the suburbs. The images, between reportage and art, fascinate for their ability to combine humor and delicacy, nostalgia and modernity, offering a portrait of urban life imbued with humanity. Alongside the famous photographs of everyday life, the exhibition also includes portraits that Doisneau dedicated to poets, writers, artists, filmmakers and intellectuals close to him: from Jacques Prévert to Picasso, Jacques Tati to Alberto Moravia, and Blaise Cendrars and Curzio Malaparte. Works that testify to the continuous dialogue between photography and other arts and restore the image of Doisneau not only as a privileged observer of his time, but also as a participatory and active figure on the European cultural scene.
“We only saw the backstage of my father’s work, but he was a born storyteller and the accounts of his days and encounters gave us the feeling of being part of an exceptional life,” Francine Deroudille, the photographer’s daughter, points out. “Today, 450,000 negatives testify to this life. A false testimony, he said, and no doubt he was not wrong. Photography is the art of illusion. But what does it matter? Sharing a vision can help us deal with reality. Sometimes to re-enchant it.”
“What makes Doisneau’s vision unique,” explains curator Patrick Amsellem, “is his ability to capture through the lens and reveal the poetry contained in the ordinary moments of everyday life, in a simple gesture, an exchange of glances or a seemingly mundane street scene. The exhibition is an invitation to embark on a journey into Doisneau’s twentieth century, the journey of a photographer-poet who lays his inspired gaze on the asphalt of the streets of Paris and its suburbs.” “His legacy,” he continues, “endures to this day, inspiring photographers and artists around the world. His humanist approach to photography, his ability to capture the moment and to tell visual stories continue to resonate in our modern society. This exhibition allows us to discover Doisneau’s work, in which poetry and photography meet to celebrate life in all its splendor.”
“Welcoming Doisneau to the CAMBIO Cultural Center is an honor and a sign of the course we have chosen,” comments Paolo Regini, president of Banca Cambiano 1884 and Ente Cambiano. “With Ente Cambiano and Banca Cambiano 1884 we have long invested in a long-term project: to make Castelfiorentino a center of photography, a place of study, dissemination for young people and preservation of memory. Today this path finds a home in the CAMBIO Cultural Center and an acceleration in the Cambiano Foundation, which takes it up and strengthens it, carrying it forward in all its specificities. Photography - Doisneau reminds us - preserves simple gestures and gives us back the flavor of the years: this exhibition is a concrete step in that direction.”
The exhibition is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.
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| In Castelfiorentino one hundred shots of Robert Doisneau for a photographic journey through twentieth-century Paris |
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