November 9, 2026
Wolfgang Tillmans has been named as the 2026 recipient of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, introduced in 2024, recognizes a photographer who has shaped the history of the medium. Presented at the Fondation’s Gala, Tillmans received the award during a tribute by musician and collaborator, Michael Stipe.
Few artists have shaped the scope of contemporary art and influenced younger generations more than Wolfgang Tillmans. In a career spanning almost four decades, he has consistently redefined the medium of photography through a seamless integration of genres, subjects, techniques, and exhibition strategies. His inventive practice pairs intimacy and playfulness with a commitment to social awareness and a persistent questioning of existing values and hierarchies.
A major traveling exhibition of his work, To look without fear, opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2022, and subsequently traveled to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, in 2023, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in 2024.
In 2025, as its final exhibition before closing for a multi-year renovation, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, presented Rien ne nous y préparait – Tout nous y préparait / Nothing could have prepared us, Everything could have prepared us, a site-specific solo exhibition conceived by Tillmans. The presentation was held in the museum’s vacated Public Information Library (BPI), marking the first time that the library functioned as an exhibition space. Also on view in 2025 were the major solo exhibitions Weltraum and Ausstellung in Remscheid, hosted by the Albertinum in Dresden, Germany, and Haus Cleff in the artist’s hometown of Remscheid, Germany, respectively.
Learn more about the award at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.
