Quai de la Photo – a hybrid Left Bank space (not far from our hotels) offering free exhibitions, a specialist bookshop, a restaurant and, er, boat tours on the Seine – has opened its new exhibition, celebrating 200 years since the creation of photography by Nicéphore Niépce.

Quai de la Photo invites you on a voyage back to 1824, the year that the first permanent image was created, announcing the start of a new form of art and documentation of news and history. Niépce almost certainly did not realise the importance of his discovery!

The exhibition will tell you everything about Niépce’s life and inventions (like his heliograpy, which opened the way for many other photographic techniques) with vintage materials and machines presented, together with documents from his house in Saint-Loup de Varennes in the Bourgogne region of France (here), which has been restored and is now know to be where the first ever photo was taken.

You’ll also be able to see excerpts from the book Niépce, Correspondance et Papiers, an exhaustive 1,600-page work available to buy (169€ here at amazon.fr) of available to consult online for zero euros here.

Also part of the exhibition are over 100 photos from the workshop of Fortuné Joseph Petiot-Groffier, the oldest photographic workshops in the world. Just so you know, Fortuné died suddenly in 1855, almost certainly because of the chemicals he used to use for his photography work 😬

Don’t forget that we visited Quai de la Photo for you last summer (here) and even had dinner there! Moored on the Seine just newt to the water, it’s a great place to visit or eat at during the day or evening. Get down there before the weather gets too cool!

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The exhibition for the bicentenary of the invention of photography is at Quai de la Photo (here) until 20th December 2024

Until the end of October, open every day from midday – 1am (2am from Thursday-Saturday)

From November onwards, open Wednesday-Sunday, midday-midnight (and possible later)

Admission: free!

Visites guidées gratuites du mercredi au dimanche à 12h30, 14h30, 16h30 et 18h30

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Une publication partagée par Quai de la Photo (@quaidelaphoto)