To remember the centenary of the birth of Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004), the Maison Européenne de la Photographie is inviting you to discover around 120 prints from the great French photographer’s two major series: "Paris" and "Les Européens".

The "Paris" series is mostly made up of street scenes and scenes from everyday life: working-class cities and districts such as La Villette, Les Halles, Aubervilliers, Nanterre as well as the banks of the Seine and the Marne and, finally, May ‘68. In the series "Les Européens", you will find pictures taken by the great photographer in Moscow, Warsaw, Krakow, Berlin, Dessau, Brussels, Grenada, Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Alicante, Livorno, Salerno, Rome, Istanbul, London and Ireland…

Born in Chanteloup-en-Brie in 1908, Henri Cartier-Bresson discovered photography in 1932. He began to roam the world, camera in hand. In 1936 he became second assistant director to Jean Renoir for "La vie est à nous" and "Une partie de campagne" and, in 1939, for "La Règle du Jeu". In 1946, he founded the Magnum agency with Robert Capa and David Seymour. He rejected any stagecraft and favoured black and white, since his photojournalism was a simple representation of life captured as it happened. He travelled and photographed until 1968, focussing his lens on the United States, China, Cuba, India, etc. and became the first foreign photographer to be allowed into the USSR. In 2003, one year before his death, he founded the HCB foundation.