What to see at Paris Photo 2026
Paris Photo, the world’s leading photography fair, returns to the Grand Palais in Paris from 12 to 15 November 2026, with 246 exhibitors from 38 countries showing under one roof. This will be a special edition, as it marks the bicentennial of the invention of photography, which is being celebrated throughout France from September 2026.
Copie de Secteur Digital. Paris Photo, Grand Palais. © Mickaël Llorca.
Across five sectors, the 246 exhibitors include 199 galleries and 48 publishers. 400 book signings are set to take place during the fair, reaffirming the importance and demand for photo-books. Of the galleries, 27% are French and 80 are new participants. In total they will show 1,260 artists, 38% of whom are women, compared to 20% in 2018. This is in part due to special initiatives that have fostered and rewarded women artists at the fair, including the Elles x Paris Photo programme supported by the French Ministry of Culture. This year’s programme is curated by Aldeide Delgado, founder of WOPHA (Women Photographers International Archive).
At the entrance to the Grand Palais will be a retrospective of German photographer Thomas Ruff. Presented in the form of an “open book”, it will explore his experimental practice since the 1980s, including analog images and digital simulations. This is a collaboration between five galleries: David Zwirner, Konrad Fischer, Mai 36, Lia Rumma, Sprüth Magers.
Copie de secteur Emergence, Paris Photo, Grand Palais. © Mickaël Llorca.
In the Main Sector of the fair, images created using some of the earliest processes in photography, such as calotypes and photograms, will be on display, taken by pioneers of the medium including Louis Daguerre, William Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins and Girault de Prangey. There will also be 44 solo presentations. A particular highlight is Miguel Ángel Rojas’ series of clandestine encounters in Bogotá cinemas in the 1970s presented by La Cometa. Offering a vastly different perspective on Colombian society, Juan Manuel Echavarría is showing his work on the traces of armed conflict at Bienvenu Steinberg & Co.
Over in the Emergence Sector, 20 monographic projects will be presented by galleries from 9 countries. Highlights include the work of Randa Mirza (Tanit, Beirut), whose practice spans photography, poetry and calligraphy to grapple with the destruction and disappearance occurring in South Lebanon.
Copie de Grand Palais © Grégoire Grange, 2025.
The bicentennial is a fitting moment to reflect on the many developments that have taken place in the medium since its birth, and to consider the impact of new technologies on its future. This will be addressed in the fair’s Voices Sector, curated by Francesco Zanot and Zasha Colah, which focuses on the theme of disappearance. Photography has long been synonymous with preservation, and yet some would argue that photography itself is under threat in the contemporary era. To quote the curators, photography is “increasingly unstable, transformed and challenged by processes that are altering its nature and status.” To reckon with this contentious topic, historical artists will be exhibited side by side with artists at the forefront of the new digital wave, whose practices engage with algorithmic editing, software manipulation, and artificial intelligence. Additional perspectives and innovative approaches can also be found in the Digital Sector, curated this year by Marco de Mutiis.
Beyond the fair’s official sectors, there will be a special presentation by the Centre Pompidou of nearly 100 artworks by 30 artists from the museum’s own collection. It is conceived as a tribute (on the occasion of the bicentennial) to the invention of photography, curated by Damarice Amao, Florian Ebner, and Julie Jones. Spanning four themes: Making the Image, To Infinity, The Studio and Identities, it brings together artists with diverse practices from around the world, but whose work centres around similar concerns of reproduction, recording, and identity construction, including self-portraiture.
Copie de Vue générale Paris Photo © Nicolas Bousser, 2025
In addition to five sectors and special exhibitions, there will be an active programme of Conversations, with speakers including Thomas Ruff and Zanele Muholi. Conversations will take place four times a day on the first floor. Book Talks, organised by Printed Matter, will also bring together artists and publishers to explore the special and enduring relationship between photography and photo-books.
Reflecting on the role of Paris Photo in relation to developments in the medium, artistic director Anna Planas commented: “Photography has undergone major changes since Paris Photo was established - visually, technically, aesthetically and conceptually. These transformations have created a fertile and exciting artistic landscape for the medium, which will only continue to evolve, expand its place within the market and, in a sense, gain greater recognition.”
Date: 12 - 15 November 2026. Location: Grand Palais, Avenue Winston-Churchill, 75008 Paris. parisphoto.com
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