Versailles, Le Parc
Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
1906
An albumen silver print in which Atget quietly documents a worn Versailles housefront—stone steps, a birdcage, and a small child silhouetted in the doorway—as part of his effort to record disappearing everyday urban details.
The image arrests you with its rough, tactile stone surface and the sharp contrast of sunlight and shadow that frames the dark doorway and the tiny figure within, while a cat dozes on the uneven cobbles, lending the scene a lived‑in stillness.
Atget’s meticulous street studies helped redefine photography’s role as a recorder of vernacular urban life, preserving ordinary architecture and moments that later influenced Surrealists and documentary photographers.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 7 1/16 × 8 9/16" (18 × 21.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Abbott-Levy Collection. Acquired through the generosity of Shirley C. Burden, and Family of Man Fund
Accession
1.1969.196
Palette
Exhibitions