Paris Photo 2026

Paris Photo, leading international art fair dedicated to photography and image-based art is coming back to the Grand Palais for the 29th edition.

Overview

Founded in 1997 and held annually each November, the fair typically takes place under the iconic glass roof of the Grand Palais in Paris. The fair serves as a global crossroads for the photography market, bringing together over 200 exhibitors—including leading galleries and specialized publishers—from dozens of countries. Its programming is known for balancing historical masterpieces with cutting-edge contemporary works, often organized into specialized sectors such as Emergence (for new talent), Digital (exploring the intersection of technology and image-based art), and the renowned Book sector, which hosts hundreds of artist signings.

Beyond its commercial significance, Paris Photo is a major cultural event that draws upwards of 80,000 visitors, including collectors, curators, and enthusiasts. The fair features a dense schedule of curated exhibitions, "Conversations" with leading artists and critics, and prestigious prizes like the Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards. By fostering a dialogue between the medium's 19th-century origins and its future in the digital age, it remains the definitive benchmark for the global photography community.

To mark the Bicentenary of Photography, several projects in the Main Sector revisit the origins of the medium and the transmission of its techniques. Hans P. Kraus Jr. brings together works by Louis Daguerre, William Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins and Girault de Prangey, created using some of the earliest photographic processes. These historical works are presented alongside contemporary explorations. Christophe Gaillard dedicates a solo show to Isabelle Le Minh, whose work examines the history, forms and limits of photography, while Binome presents a body of work focused on the materiality of the image. For this new edition, the Main Sector features 45 solo shows. By dedicating their presentations to a single artist, galleries offer an in-depth view of the artist’s work through a particular series, period or body of work.

Launched in 2024, the Voices Sector is entrusted each year to guest curators, who develop a proposal around a specific theme. For its third edition, Zasha Colah and Francesco Zanot explore the Disappearance in a dedicated space within the nave. Bringing together historical and contemporary positions, as well as works ranging from straight photography to hybrid visual languages, the section reflects on disappea rance not only as a subject represented by photography, but as a condition increasingly affecting the medium itself.

For its fourth edition, the Digital Sector opens a new chapter under the curatorship of Marco De Mutiis, Digital Curator at Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. It brings together 12 contemporary art galleries, curatorial platforms and special projects exploring the transformations of the photographic image brought about by digital technologies. As part of the Bicentenary of Photography, the Digital Sector brings its legacy and its future into view at the same time – from the origins of the medium and a technique that revolutionised vision to the emerging forms that will shape the way we look at the world over the next two hundred years.

The Emergence sector presents a new generation of artists and galleries whose practices are reshaping the forms and uses of contemporary photography. The selected projects address a wide range of realities, from everyday life to historical and political narratives.

Additonally, this year, the Book sector brings together 49 publishers and specialist booksellers from 17 countries. Located on the first floor of the Grand Palais, along the walkways and in the Galerie Courbe, it offers a panorama of international photography publishing, from contemporary publications to historical and rare books. Alongside MACK in London, Atelier EXB in Paris and Aperture in New York, the 2026 edition welcomes several first-time exhibitors: Gato Negro and Obsidiana from Mexico City, Palm*Studios from London, Sun Archive from Wrocław and Fw:Books from Amsterdam.