Secret Paris

Friday 9th October 2026

Heidi Museum, Heidelberg, Melbourne

The Brassai Photographic Exhibition – Secret Paris

The exhibition comprises more than 150 works by the artist-photographer Brassai, whose images create a visual journey into the after dark world of Paris in the 1930s. Brassai was born in Transylvania in 1899 and settled in Paris in 1924. By 1932 he began to make a living from photography at a time when Paris was alive with cultural innovation and became the centre of the international avant garde, attracting artists, writers, musicians and thinkers. Brassai preferred to work at night capturing the images of Paris – the streets, boulevards, cafes and bars of Montparnasse. This added to the mystery and drama of Paris and allowed him to capture intimate moments with workers, lovers, performers, passers-by and his renowned friends and contemporaries, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Henry Miller and Kiki de Montparnasse.