Seeing Tahiti. First Photographs 1859-1870

Starting in 1859, long before the advent of modern tourism, a lens from a photographic device captured for the first time the shores of Polynesia. The Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac unearths exceptional archives, highlighting the work of an unknown naval surgeon alongside that of a confirmed photographer of the time. These pioneering photographs testify to a crucial period when the archipelago oscillated between raw reality and nascent Western fantasy. Far from fairytale images, these fragile prints reveal faces and landscapes captured in their authenticity, long before colonial clichés froze these distant lands. This unpublished selection offers a fascinating journey through time, documenting the historical encounter between fledgling photographic technique and Pacific cultures. A rare opportunity to observe the birth of our visual imagination on these remote islands.