Robert Capa. War Photographer

The Museum of the Liberation of Paris - General Leclerc Museum - Jean Moulin Museum offers, with the exceptional collaboration of Magnum Photos, a contextualized re-reading of his work. More than sixty vintage press prints are presented alongside magazines, books, documents, and personal objects. Together, these one hundred and sixty pieces retrace the journey of a young Hungarian immigrant who became an icon of modern photography.

The "Capa style," that direct and immersive way of photographing war, has deeply influenced the profession, which is still exposed to the dangers of the field. In 2024, according to Reporters Without Borders, fifty-four journalists lost their lives in the line of duty, most of them in conflict zones.

By presenting the work of Robert Capa, the exhibition offers a historical perspective on a reality that is still current: the risk that must be taken to report on war.

Robert Capa is THE war photographer with legendary images. He invented the model: inevitably American, casual and seductive, a drinker and gambler, ready to risk his life to take THE iconic photograph. That is the mythical side of the character and the existence he chose for himself.

However, this representation masks another story: that of a Hungarian exile in Paris during the interwar period, who reinvented himself as Robert Capa, a remarkable war photographer. Capa refined the craft, anxious to produce prints that could be disseminated by the press, as shown by the prints and magazines on display. Beyond the romanticism, questioning his journey and his images allows us to approach his life, his commitments, and above all to understand why, nearly a century later, his photographs remain legendary.