Tribute to Sebastião Salgado

Born in Brazil in 1944, he arrived in Paris in the late 1960s to study economics. It wasn't until he was in his early thirties that he discovered photography. Self-taught, he learned on his own, traveling extensively and observing at length. Very quickly, his eye made its mark. His pictures reveal the scars of the world: famines in the Sahel, gold mines in Amazonia, exoduses, conflicts. But also preserved territories, forgotten peoples, nature in its rawest form.

On May 23, the Académie des Beaux-Arts announced the death of this exceptional man, hailing him as " a great witness to the human condition and the state of the planet ".

Currently on show at Les Franciscaines, with images from the MEP collection, the exhibition takes on a very sad resonance today. It is one of the few retrospectives of his work, and brings together a lifetime's worth of photos. At the press day, he emotionally declared: " My life is on these walls ". This phrase sums up his lifelong commitment. Salgado never sought to illustrate. He wanted to reveal. To bring to light what often remains in the shadows.

Les Franciscaines bows with respect and gratitude before this immense artist, this photographer of the soul, this poet of reality. His gaze accompanies us and continues to deeply move those who pass through the exhibition. Our thoughts go first and foremost to Lélia, her children Juliano and Rodrigo, and her grandchildren Flávio and Nara.