Every year, the collections of the Musée de l’Elysée grow. The institution is known for its management of complete photographic archives, including prints, negatives and rights, like the Ella Maillart archive, since 2000, or the Nicolas Bouvier archive, since 2004. The pace has accelerated over the past five years, with the arrival of the archives of Jean Mohr, Charles Chaplin, Marcel Imsand and, most recently, René Burri.
In May 2013, the Fondation René Burri was established in Lausanne in order to collect, preserve and promote the artist’s work. An agreement was reached, and this important piece of Swiss heritage was entrusted to the Musée de l’Elysée. Burri is one of the most talented photographers of his generation. In 1959, shortly after starting out, he became a member of the Magnum agency. In 1963, he took his famous portrait of Che Guevara. He also photographed Giacometti, Le Corbusier, Tinguely, Picasso and Niemeyer, among others. From the decolonization in the Middle East in the 1950s and, 60s, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the Vietnam war to crises in Cuba, China, Europe and America, René Burri was where history was being made, he documented some of the most important events of his century.
