until Sunday January 11 2026

Cinémathèque Française
T : +33 (0)1 71 19 33 33
51 Rue de Bercy
75012 Paris
France

Contact
https://www.cinematheque.fr

Orson Welles died on October 10, 1985, at the age of 70. He left behind twelve completed feature films, including the most famous first film in the history of cinema: Citizen Kane (1941), made at the age of 25. An immense creator of cinematic forms, brilliantly renewing the use of the long take, depth of field, and rapid editing, Welles never ceased to surprise through the protean aspect of his work. This exhibition is intended as an introduction to this extraordinary body of work. It will pay tribute to Orson Welles' eventful career through a scenographic journey that combines chronology and exploration of the major themes of his films. A filmmaker and intellectual, with a particularly rich and open culture, Orson Welles was also a showman and a familiar and popular figure.

Across the exhibition's five sections, 400 works will help the public better understand Orson Welles' singularity and creative process: photographs (by Xavier Lambours, Alexandre Trauner, Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Roger Corbeau, Irving Penn, and Cecil Beaton), archives, drawings, audiovisual loops, and installations. In addition to generous excerpts from his films, the exhibition brings together some forty works from Orson Welles's creative work as a draftsman and sculptor.