Coproduced by the Rencontres d’Arles and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent, the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent and Photography will highlight the exceptional relationship that Yves Saint Laurent had with the greatest photographers of the twentieth century.
The first part of the exhibition will trace the evolution of Yves Saint Laurent’s fashion images and feature iconic portraits of the couturier, with more than 80 works by renowned photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon and William Klein, to name just a few.
The second part of the exhibition, designed as a cabinet of curiosities, will present more than 200 archival objects―contact sheets, catalogs, magazines and personal photographs―illustrating the central role of photography in Saint Laurent’s work and within his couture house.
Displaying important prints from the photographic collection of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, this one-of-a-kind exhibition will offer visitors an immersion into the world of the legendary couturier as well as a journey though the history of fashion and photography.
Curatorship: Simon Baker in collaboration with Elsa Janssen
Catalog: Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, Phaidon, 2025
