Martin Parr. Global Warning

From January 30 to May 24, 2026, the Jeu de Paume dedicates a major exhibition to Martin Parr (1952, 2025). Designed with the British photographer before his passing on December 6, 2025, 'Martin Parr. Global Warning' brings together about 180 works produced from the 1970s to 2024. Curated by Quentin Bajac, the venue's director, it rereads fifty years of documentary photography through the lens of today's disruptions. This retrospective, conceived and built with the artist himself, serves both as an assessment of an extraordinary career and a visual testament addressed to a humanity blind to its own excesses.

Front flash, saturated colors, and a sharp eye on everyday life Martin Parr never sought to lecture. Front flash, saturated colors, tight frames: his visual style, forged in the early 1980s, acts as a reality amplifier. Every banal scene—a crowded beach, supermarket cart, tourist queue—becomes a revealing tableau under his lens. 'Martin Parr. Global Warning' at Jeu de Paume deploys this approach over five decades, from early black-and-white shots taken in the British Isles to recent images captured in Iceland. Martin Parr, Benidorm, Spain, 1997 A member of Magnum agency since 1994, and its president from 2013 to 2017, Parr places his work within the British satirical tradition. Humor serves as a critical weapon. He does not denounce; he shows, with clinical precision and infectious joy. Visitors discover an artist aware of his own place in the world he photographed. He openly acknowledged his own carbon footprint, refusing any moral high ground. This honesty gives the work its unique strength. He does not denounce; he shows, with clinical precision and infectious joy. The exhibition also marks Martin Parr’s return to this venue fifteen years after 'Planète Parr' in 2009. It’s the last show he actively collaborated on before passing in Bristol, due to cancer diagnosed in 2021.

From overcrowded beaches to omnipresent screens, a map of our collective excesses The journey is organized into five sections outlining a map of our collective failings. The first explores the beach as a privileged observation ground. From New Brighton to Benidorm, Parr captures the coexistence of pleasure and waste, natural and artificial, where leisure reshapes landscapes. 180 works from the 1970s to 2024 The second section dives into the world of consumption. Supermarkets, trade fairs, and leisure centers become the scenes of acquisition frenzy. At the heart of this collection, the monumental montage of the Common Sense series juxtaposes close-ups of objects and foods from the five continents, subverting advertising photography codes. The third part addresses mass tourism, a central theme of Parr’s work since the Small World series. Crowded crowds in front of the Mona Lisa, compulsive selfies worldwide: forty years of overtourism unfold on the walls. The fourth section questions our coexistence with the animal world, between instrumentalization and fascination. Finally, the journey closes on our technological addictions: raised smartphones, omnipresent screens, permanent connection. Five chapters which, together, sketch the underlying causes of Anthropocene climate upheavals. Get a ticket at the Jeu de Paume to explore this striking panorama of our collective contradictions. Martin Parr, Seagaia Ocean Dome, Miyazaki, Japan, 1996 This iconic photograph from the 'Small World' series captures the main pool of one of the world’s largest indoor water parks, whose simulated pool holds a Guinness World Record. The scene shows a multitude of bathers packed onto 600 tons of white marble sand imported from China. Despite the retractable roof—the largest in the world—allowing the dome to open to the real sky, the image shows the structure closed: an artificially painted azure horizon replaces the true ocean, just 300 meters away. This coexistence between an accessible natural beach and climate-controlled simulacrum crystallizes the absurdity of contemporary tourism that Martin Parr documents relentlessly.

Fifty years of photography raised as an artistic testament Martin Parr's photographs are like no other. They borrow from the vocabulary of postcards, selfies, or advertising to better subvert their meaning. The image seduces first, then unsettles. A baby nestled among diapers and canned goods in a Dublin shopping cart (1983). Seagulls fighting over a box of fries under the British flag in Bristol (1998). A woman brandishing a Trump doll in Cleveland (2016). Each shot works in two steps: laughter, then awareness. Old images dialogue with recent shots. From Salford in 1986 to Kleine Scheidegg in 1994, from Las Vegas in 2000 to the Blue Lagoon of Reykjavik in 2024, the artist freezes moments where consumerist and technological frenzy surfaces in everyday life. These 180 prints, from major series like The Last Resort, Small World, or Common Sense, compose a group portrait of contemporary humanity. Parr’s humor never lessens the gravity of the message; it just makes it bearable. The photographer’s passing gives this collection a special resonance. These images, designed as entertainment with a warning, now have the value of an artistic testament. Your ticket opens the doors to this unclassifiable work, both joyous and unsettling. Martin Parr, Salford, England, 1986