Robert Doisneau

Robert Doisneau was a French photographer famous for warm, playful images of everyday life in Paris. Born in 1912, he spent decades roaming the city's streets, cafes, and suburbs, capturing children, lovers, workers, and eccentrics with humor and affection. His most famous picture shows a young couple kissing on a busy Paris street, an image that has become a symbol of romance itself.

He worked in the tradition of humanist photography, finding gentle comedy and tenderness in ordinary people. Years later it emerged that the famous kiss was posed with actors, which sparked debate but did little to dim its charm. Doisneau's affectionate, good-humored view of Paris has made him one of the best loved photographers of the twentieth century.