Henrie Cartier-Bresson! What a name in the world of art in general and the world of photography in particular.

At the beginning of October 2024 I was lucky enough to be able to visit a large and magnificent Henri Cartier-Bresson Retrospective in Landerneau/France. It was an experience to be able to see all the well-known (and numerous unknown) photographs in real life and not just on the internet or in books.

The exhibition shows all of Bresson’s key creative periods and was very entertaining. One of my favorite pictures “Sunday on the Banks of the Marne” was also shown. A small group of people are sitting by the river, the «Sunday mood» is almost tangible and Bresson presses the shutter button at the moment wine is poured. Capturing the decisive moment was an art that Cartier-Bresson was very good at.

A few weeks later I discovered a book in the Aufbauhaus in Berlin: «Henrie Cartier-Bresson. Masterworks» (Schirmer-Mosel, Germany, 2021).. It contains a collection of interviews from 1951 – 1998. In his interviews, Cartier-Bresson often refers to his book «The Decisive Moment» and the history behind this term. 300 of these uniquely captured moments can be seen in the exhibition until January 5, 2025.