artist in residence
2025
Mrs S. – Privacy and correspondence
For more than twenty years, Julien Magre has been poetically exploring the contours of intimacy, particularly through images of his family life. This intimacy is constantly evolving, shaped by the passage of time.
In Deauville, as part of his artistic residency, he leaves his family circle behind and allows himself to be guided by a historical and fantastical figure: Sophie de Troubetzkoï, a tsarina who became a duchess and wife of the Duke of Morny, founder of the town. Now known as ‘Madame S.,’ she becomes his silent muse, a diffuse and inspiring presence as he wanders through the city.
Julien Magre walks, observes, and soaks it all in. He photographs the places that remind him of her, imagining the moments they could have shared, the walks they could have taken together. Every day, he wrote her a handwritten letter, telling her about his day, sharing his thoughts, emotions and memories.
French photographer Julien Magre was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1973 and lives and works in Paris. Winner of the 2022 Prix Niépce, he explores the idea of space through visual narratives: familiar spaces, such as family, or unfamiliar ones, such as the desert, the sea and the mountains. His work, influenced by cinema, incorporates tracking shots and writing, which gradually finds its way into his images. He captures the tenderness of passing time, particularly through loved ones. Represented by the Galerie Le Réverbère in Lyon, he has exhibited at the BNF, the Bal (Paris) and the Musée Nicéphore Niépce (Chalon-sur-Saône), among others.
