"The Decisive Moment", Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004)

Behind the Saint-Lazare station, Paris, 1932. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Eunuch of the imperial court of the last dynasty, Peking, 1949. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Kurukshetra refugee camp in Punjab, India, 1947. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Bali, Indonesia, 1950. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Henri Matisse and his model Micaela Avogadro, Vence, France, 1944. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Manhattan, New York, USA , 1947. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Trafalgar Square on the day of the coronation of George VI,
London, Great Britain, 1937. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Trafalgar Square on the day of the coronation of George VI,London, 1938. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Mexico, 1934. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

State of Oaxaca,Tehuantepec, Mexico,1934. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Sunday at the Banks of Marne River, 1938. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Srinagar, Kashmir, 1948. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Refugee camp at Kurukshetra, Punjab, India, 1948. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

In a deportee camp, a Gestapo informer is recognised by a
woman she has denounced: Dessau, Germany, 1945. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Valencia, Spain, 1933. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Last days of Kuomintang, Shanghai, China, December 1948 – January 1949. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Boston, Massachusetts,
USA, 1947. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Hyéres, France, 1932. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Hyde Park, London, 1938. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Siena, Italy, 1933. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Salerno, Italy, 1933. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Asilah, Morocco, 1933. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Seville, Spain, 1932. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Truman Capote, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 1947. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Madrid, 1933. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

Books

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment

(Steidl, 2015)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

(FHEL, 2024)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer

(Prestel, 2020)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

(Contrasto, 1970)

Discoveries: Henri Cartier-Bresson

(Abrams, 2008)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The early work

(MOMA, 1987)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook

(Thames & Hudson, 2007)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

(Thames & Hudson, 2006)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century

(MOMA, 2010)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Le Grand Jeu

(Marsilio, 2020)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Watch, Watch, Watch!

(Fundación Mapfre, 2024)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Aperture Masters of Photography

(Aperture, 2015)

Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Artless Art

(Thames & Hudson, 1996)

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image & the World

(Thames & Hudson, 2006)

Henri Cartier-Bresson

(Centre Pompidou, 2014)

More by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Trastevere, Rome, 1959. Image courtesy of Magnum Photos.

The Europeans

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004)

European identity captured through black-and-white photographs spanning five decades, emphasizing shared humanity and cultural diversity.

Related Projects

The Suburbs of Paris

Robert Doisneau (1912-1994)

Parisian suburbs during the transformative post-war period, capturing the interplay of evolving urban landscapes and the lives of working-class communities.

The Village

Paul Strand (1890-1976)

Portrayal of rural Italian village life, revealing intimate details of community members in domestic and communal spaces, highlighting unromanticized realities of post-war Italy.

A Way of Seeing

Helen Levitt (1913-2009)

Spontaneous moments of childhood play intertwined with the daily rhythms of working-class street life in 1930s and 1940s New York City.

Sweet Life

Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990)

Emotionally raw photographic journey that captures a world in flux, blending joy and struggle through high-contrast, dynamic images taken during a 14-month global voyage.

Wonderland: A Fairy Tale of the Soviet Monolith

Jason Eskenazi (1960)

The post-Soviet transition as seen through everyday life and personal stories.

On Reading

André Kertész (1894-1985)

A photographic meditation on the power of reading to connect individuals with words and with each other, inviting contemplation on a universal human activity.