Paris Plage in summer, guinguettes, cafés-concerts, places to relax in fine weather, long quays for strolling, boats sailing and people working by the water: the banks of the Seine welcome many Parisians and tourists every season. Photographers from theRoger-Viollet agency have immortalized these banks of the Seine, always full of life. The long evolution of the banks of the Seine, between 1860 and 1960, can be seen in a free photo exhibition organized from June 29 to October 7, 2023.
Galerie Roger-Viollet invites us to discover Paris Rive droite / Rive gauche, this summer in the 6th arrondissement, through 86 photographs recounting a century of Parisian history.
The river, the lifeblood of the capital, and its banks are a privileged space, where people work as much as they play. Itinerant wigmakers, animal shearers, cowherds, quilters, coachmen and their horses, waiters and waitresses cross paths with workers, families in their Sunday best, poor kids strolling through the capital and bourgeois coming out of the Samaritaine baths. Between the left and right banks, worlds observe each other, sometimes mingling, sometimes brushing up against each other...
The Seine and its banks are also major transportation routes: bicycles, carriages, horses and, of course, boats circulate and cross Paris. The river is used to transport goods, building materials and wine. The banks and ports of Paris were also occupied by sailors, workers and merchants.
But the Seine and its banks were also worlds apart, spaces romanticized, embellished and put in the spotlight. In 1900, the quays were home to an ephemeral installation, a fantasy world created for theUniversal Exhibition. In 2024, the Seine is once again the center of attention, for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
These images of the past still resonate for some Parisians: those under 20 haven't experienced that time, but perhaps you remember the halles aux vins and the Bercy warehouses, the Deligny floating pool... These photographs also allow us to make links with the present. Can you recognize these quays, this bridge, this museum immortalized a century ago?
The photographs on show at Galerie Roger-Viollet are an invitation to take a stroll. Bathers, strollers, sunbathers: a real summer atmosphere emanates from these images.
All these stories, all these evolutions, are told by the images exhibited at the Roger-Viollet gallery this summer. Come and enjoy this free exhibition, and take a stroll along the banks of the Seine, just a stone's throw away...
Dates and Opening Time
From June 29th, 2023 to October 7th, 2023
Location
Roger-Viollet Gallery
6 Rue de Seine
75006 Paris 6
Prices
Free
Official website
www.galerie-roger-viollet.fr
