The Past is Bright The Autochrome Lumière
Art & Design

The Past is Bright

The Autochrome Lumière

The turn of the 19th century often seems a rather drab period in retrospect, not least because we remember it primarily through grainy black & white images of somber-looking figures. However, though color photography was not really popularized until the invention of Kodachrome film in 1936, color processes have been around since the 1860s. One of these early techniques was Autochrome, patented in 1905 by the Lumiere Brothers (who, incidentally, opened the world’s first public cinema today in 1895). Adopted by several photographers over the years, Autochrome offers an vivid and surreal window on the past, its slightly too-rich colors imbuing each scene with a sense of fantasy.

RELATED TOPICS

MORE TO LOVE

Rick Owens, Temple of Love

The Palais Galliera hosts Paris’ first exhibition dedicated to avant-garde fashion designer Rick Owens, featuring over 100 silhouettes across collections from his early Los Angeles beginnings to his latest works. Fascinated by spiritual ritual, his creations draw on references from Joris-Karl Huysmans, modern and contemporary art, and early Hollywood films, sitting alongside personal documents, videos and never-before-seen installations. Also acting as the exhibition’s artistic director, Rick Owens has collaborated on the curation at the Palais Galliera to create an exhibition trail extending to the museum’s façade and garden. Until 4 January 2026

Heatwave

Presented by New York’s Edwynn Houk Gallery, group exhibition Heatwave explores heat not just as temperature, but as sensation, atmosphere, memory, and transformation. Featuring photographic works by Lillian Bassman, Elliott Erwitt, Lalla Essaydi, Robert Heinecken, Sally Mann, Joel Meyerowitz, Abelardo Morell, Erwin Olaf, and Herb Ritts, the exhibition shows how photography shapes, reveals, distorts, and intensifies perception. Carried by immediacy, sensual intensity and a charged stillness, collectively, these works convey not only how the world looks, but how it feels. Until 1 August 2025

David Hockney 25

David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, has taken over the entire building of the Fondation Louis Vuitton for an exhibition that is exceptional in its scale and originality. David Hockey 25 brings together more than 400 of his works (from 1955 to 2025), including paintings from international, institutional, and private collections, as well as works from the artist’s own studio and Foundation. The exhibition shows how the artist has continually renewed both his subjects and his mode of expression, reinventing his art with the use of new media to become a champion of new technologies. Until 31 August.

The Past is Bright