In forty festivals, the Rencontres d'Arles has provided a comprehensive panorama of photography during a particularly intense period in its history. It was in the 1960s that the issue of photography as an art in its own right was finally resolved and the world of the visual arts admitted it as a contemporary creative medium.
That same period saw museums and festivals appearing worldwide, giving photographers the opportunity to meet, discuss, compare and discover each other’s work.
Over the years, the Rencontres d’Arles aimed at promoting contemporary photography and its artists but also to organise workshops and focus on the educational component through conferences and group discussions.