La retrospective

From June to September 2026, and on the occasion of William Klein's centenary, the MEP pays tribute to him through an exceptional cinematographic retrospective, produced in partnership with Studio William Klein. The screening cycle is extended by a display of photographs from the MEP's collections, as well as graphic works and books, deployed throughout the spaces.

The MEP has maintained a close relationship with William Klein and his studio for many years.

Since its opening in 1996, it has dedicated several major exhibitions to him and today holds one of the most significant collections of his work, with over 300 pieces – photographs, films, and books.

William Klein, photographer, painter, and filmmaker, profoundly disrupted the codes of imagery.

Through this major retrospective, tracing his entire career, the MEP pays tribute to a hybrid and unclassifiable body of work – a cinema that is both recognised and underground, which never allowed itself to be confined.

, Muhammad Ali the Greatest, Mr Freedom…), as well as rare films, some of which are unreleased (L’anniversaire de Charlotte, The Little Richard Story…), and numerous archives.

By bringing together the different facets of a body of work that tirelessly attacked powers and conventions, tearing off masks with jubilant freedom, this retrospective reveals the full contemporaneity of William Klein's gaze. Klein always remained true to himself.

It is also with the desire to remain faithful to the tumult he loved to grasp “head-on” that this retrospective was conceived. The retrospective is accompanied by a display of a selection of William Klein's photographic works, preserved at the MEP.