Galerie Patrice Trigano presents the exhibition Lucien Clergue, filming of Jean Cocteau’s The Testament of Orpheus as part of the PhotoSaintGermain festival.
In 1959 Jean Cocteau prepared his testament-film: The Testament of Orpheus shot in the quarries of Les Baux-de-Provence and at the Victorine Studios in Nice in 1959.
Jean Cocteau invited Lucien Clergue to take all the photographs he wished during the shooting of the film. These images remain iconic and timeless, because they speak only of poetry. All the photographs on display were printed during the artist’s lifetime. They are numbered, signed, or annotated on the back.
The quarries at Les Baux continue to carry a mystery, a magic that remains elusive even to today’s greatest creators.
The friendship that bound Cocteau and Clergue is deeply moving. An intimate correspondence between the two friends testifies to their mutual admiration and inspiration.
At the same time, the Cocteau–Clergue correspondence is being reissued by Actes Sud; the new edition, published in October 2025, is enriched with reproductions of handwritten letters, drawings, telegrams, and envelopes. A rare testament that sheds light on the collaboration between two magicians of images.
Lucien Clergue, filming of Jean Cocteau’s The Testament of Orpheus
Through 27 December 2025
Galerie Patrice Trigano
4 bis rue des Beaux-Arts
75006 Paris
+33 1 46 34 15 01
