At Magnum Gallery in Paris, Under the Same Sun brings together two generations of photographers connected by the Mediterranean and sensuality: Herbert List and Zied Ben Romdhane. Running from 27 June to 12 September 2026, the exhibition creates a visual conversation between List’s photographs from the 1930s to the 1950s and Ben Romdhane’s contemporary images of Tunisia, exploring the sea as a landscape of memory, identity and belonging.

Rather than presenting the Mediterranean as a simple geographical space, Under the Same Sun reveals it as a place shaped by desire, and freedom. Across nearly a century, both photographers look towards the same coastline yet reveal very different realities, connected by the enduring presence of the sun, the body and the sea.

“Ben Romdhane’s contemporary images gain a historical dimension through their elective affinity with List’s work, while List’s photographs, nearly 90 years old, reach into the present alongside Ben Romdhane’s vision,” explains Peer-Olaf Richter of the Herbert List Estate.

Herbert List’s photographs capture the Mediterranean through the language of mythology and classical beauty. Taken mainly in Greece and Italy, his images transform ancient ruins, sculptural bodies and luminous landscapes into timeless compositions. His approach was deeply influenced by modernist photography and classical art, creating photographs that exist somewhere between documentary and poetic abstraction.

List’s relationship with the Mediterranean was also shaped by personal exile. In 1936, as Nazi Germany became increasingly hostile towards Jewish people and homosexuals, List left his homeland and found refuge in countries including Greece and Italy. Away from persecution, the Mediterranean offered him a space where the human body, nature and architecture could be explored through a freer and more sensual vision.

Decades later, Zied Ben Romdhane turns his camera towards the Mediterranean coast of contemporary Tunisia. His photographs reflect the experiences of a younger generation navigating questions of identity, migration and the search for a future. Through his intimate portraits and landscapes, the sea becomes not only a physical horizon but also a symbol of uncertainty, hope and transformation.

Curated by Zied Ben Romdhane, Peer-Olaf Richter and Magnum Gallery Director Clémence Vichard-Larroque, Under the Same Sun invites visitors to consider the Mediterranean not only as a place, but as a state of mind, a meeting point between memory and modernity, exile and belonging, beauty and reality. The gallery is located in Paris at 2 Impasse Delaunay, 75011.