More than 100 photographs spanning three decades of François Halard’s career are brought together at the majestic Hôtel de Gallifet in Aix-en-Provence. Ne rien jeter, 33 ans après includes works shown publicly for the first time and takes its title from the photographer’s long-standing habit of preserving his images. His books are iconic. Curated by Stéphane Ibars, artistic director of Collection Lambert in Avignon, the exhibition runs until 27 September 2026. So run to see it before it closes!

Born in Paris in 1961, Halard developed an early interest in interiors, objects and visual culture. His parents worked in decoration and publishing, and he began taking photographs as a teenager before studying at the École des Arts Décoratifs. His subsequent career took him from New York in the 1980s to a long period of editorial work for publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair and House & Garden. Alongside this work, he developed a more personal practice focused on artists’ studios and houses, architecture, gardens and objects.

The selection moves between Greece and Italy (celebrating the Casa Malaparte for instance), Giverny and Arles where he also lives, with photographs of artists’ environments (Picasso, Cy Twombly, Brassaï etc.), architectural fragments, gardens and flowers.

More recent works, including photographs of magnolias, lilies and peonies, extend Halard’s long-standing interest in colour, surface and the relationship between photography and painting. These are remarkable works.

His images of artists’ studios and homes are among the exhibition’s most significant works. Rather than relying on conventional portraiture, Halard frequently approaches artists through their surroundings: furniture, books, works in progress and objects become evidence of a particular life and artistic practice.

Halard has spoken of his interest in creating uncertainty between photography and painting, and this ambiguity is central to the exhibition. The camera records a subject, but the resulting image is carefully transformed through composition and, in some cases, direct interventions.

The archival structure of the exhibition is equally important. Rather than presenting 33 years of work as a straightforward chronology, Ne rien jeter suggests a network of recurring subjects and images. What initially appears incidental can acquire significance retrospectively.

The setting of Hôtel de Gallifet adds another layer to this investigation of memory and place. The historic hôtel particulier provides an appropriate context for work concerned with the lives accumulated in rooms and objects. This show follows other amazing shows such as Echos de Cezanne in 2025 or Déjà View in 2023 among others.

The final room immerses us in the ruins of Baalbek, Lebanon, and in the makeshift laboratory that François Halard set up there in 2019, a few metres from the ancient remains and under the watchful eye of a tank stationed nearby. Between millennia-old history and the urgency of the present, he focuses his gaze on what persists: the fragments of ancient Heliopolis.

Across 33 years, Halard returns to a relatively consistent set of concerns, art, architecture, interiors, objects and memory, while allowing their connections to emerge gradually.