The Best Photo Shows at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2026

The photography world has touched down in the South of France for Les Rencontres d’Arles. Known as the best of its kind, the international photography festival makes the ancient city its exhibition space: everywhere from churches and crypts, municipal buildings and historical landmarks, even the local Monoprix, becomes a stunning, albeit unlikely home for some of the world’s most compelling images.

The beloved event is back for its 57th edition with a rich refresh of perspectives and styles from its emerging to established range. Attention to complexity and nuance sets the stage for this year’s iteration, which aims to “not to artificially soften the violence of reality, but to bring out its depth,” Les Rencontres d’Arles wrote. “To face a sometimes unsettling world while continuing to find beauty, connection and freedom in it.”

Among the biggest draws of 2026 is filmmaker and photographer Park Chan-wook, whose On a Calm Morning at Lee Ufan Arles gallery shows a more introspective side to, as Soy Kim calls, “The Master of Dark Irony.” William Klein, one of the post-war greats, gets a centenary spotlight with This Way to Heaven at the Museon Arlaten, which centers on his lesser-known political bodies of work.

American photographer Ming Smith comes into focus at Eglise Sainte-Anne with her decade-spanning Wandering Light. From pools of pink flamingos to the inimitable Sun Ra, her spectral, softly rendered visions of Europe take on the warm haze of memories rather than records, and chart her own rise. Elsewhere, Harry Gruyaert offers his take on a chronicle of urban life through brilliant hues in the aptly titled Sense of Place at Chapelle Saint-Martin Du Mejan.

In Photoromance, the festival is also revisiting the work of Ivorian photographer Paul Kodjo, whose cinematic portraits of 1970s Abidjan capture the city’s nightlife, fashion, and youth culture during Côte d’Ivoire’s post-independence boom.

Oleñka Carrasco/ Verdiana Albano/ Andi Gáldi Vinkó/ Antine Karla Yzer. Courtesy Of The Artists And Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Oleñka Carrasco/ Verdiana Albano/ Andi Gáldi Vinkó/ Antine Karla Yzer. Courtesy Of The Artists And Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Oleñka Carrasco/ Verdiana Albano/ Andi Gáldi Vinkó/ Antine Karla Yzer. Courtesy Of The Artists And Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Oleñka Carrasco/ Verdiana Albano/ Andi Gáldi Vinkó/ Antine Karla Yzer. Courtesy Of The Artists And Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

But beyond its heavy-hitters, as always, Les Rencontres d’Arles is putting us on to new names to know. French-Cameroonian artist Charlotte Yonga is a standout in the Discovery Award Louis Roederer Foundation exhibition with (Tsy) Possible, her ongoing series exploring love, intimacy and belonging in Madagascar. Aman Alam is also turning heads. Hailing from Bengaluru, the artist presents his deeply personal, ongoing Ozymandias series, a tender meditation on his grandmother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the quiet grief that follows.

If there’s one group show not to miss, it’s Come Together at the Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz. Bringing together projects by Eric Bouvet, Regula Tschumi, Yuan Goang-Ming, Oleñka Carrasco & La Chica, and Shelby Duncan, the exhibition confronts the festival’s overarching ideas of connection and fragmentation head on through stunning captures that explore migration, political conflict, and ecological crises.

If photography is your thing, there’s no better place to summer. Beyond the exhibitions, Les Rencontres d’Arles offers a packed calendar of artist talks, performances, and screenings, alongside the annual Arles Book Fair throughout the month. Check out the festival’s website for the full rundown.