One of the first – and still few – museums in Europe devoted entirely to photography, the Musée de l'Elysée has very quickly gained an international status and reputation since its opening in October 1985. With roughly 120,000 original prints in its collections, it is located in an elegant 18^th century mansion surrounded by an English garden that overlooks the lake. It takes up eight rooms over four floors between vast vaulted cellars and roofs with spectacular joist frames.

The Elysée adjusts its focus

The then president of the Swiss Foundation for Photography and a long-time reporter, Charles-Henri Favrod was its first director. Wanting to make up for Switzerland’s lack of knowledge of photography (there was a similar situation throughout Europe in general compared to the United States), there were many exhibitions that familiarized the general public with the beginnings of photography, the big names of the 20^th century – Cartier-Bresson, Capa, Alvarez Bravo, Penn, Frank, Depardon, Ella Maillart, etc. – and the traditional photography of the present, with an emphasis on photojournalism. His successor since 1996, the Canadian Williams A. Ewing, has continued a dynamic exhibition policy that extends beyond the walls of the museum, leads to major publications and directs attention to the contemporary scene: “ReGeneration: 50 photographs of tomorrow”, “The disappearance of the portrait”, Robert Walker, “All photographers!”, etc.

Wide-angle photography